by Justin Sloan
“The stars led me to you that night. I knew you were the chosen one.”
“I….” What could she say? Her whole life had been thrown upside down, and she’d always blamed Aldrick. But now she knew the truth. “How could you do this to me?”
“You had to find your own way, and you have.” He stood tall, appearing almost godly—like a prophet. “Now you must save Triston... And save us all.”
For a moment, his charismatic stance and the look of knowledge in his eyes almost convinced her, but then she remembered that he wasn’t the first to have spoken this way.
“How are you any different than Aldrick?” she said, stumbling away from him. “This isn’t me… not anymore.”
“You haven’t mastered your emotions,” he called after her. “You haven’t learned to trust in yourself, in others. When you do, you’ll know it.”
“I won’t join another cult,” she said, breaking into a run. He was just another fanatic with plans for so called justice. She didn’t need this. All she wanted was a cure, to be done with the night and everything it brought.
Behind her, Mauro’s voice echoed through the caverns when he shouted, “They have Triston!”
She tried to push those words from her mind. They had him… they had Triston. She climbed out of the church, doing her best to ignore the words. Who was Triston to her but some guy who’d happened to be at the right place at the right time…. Or had he? She took several steps into the square in front of the church.
The realization hit her—Triston was Mauro’s friend. Mauro had changed her into a werewolf, given her this curse. And Triston happened to be there when she needed him most? No, he’d been working with Mauro all along!
Cobblestones smacked her knees and stung her palms when she collapsed onto them. She’d been so foolish, so blind.
A memory hit her—the look in Triston’s eyes when he was about to kiss her, and then his lips, soft, brushing against her own. The gentle touch of his caress against her cheek. That had been real, and the way her heart beat now at the thought of it? It was real too.
A howl sounded from close by. Another farther off, followed by a scream.
They had Triston. They had others, and people were dying because she was sitting here on the ground like a whimpering coward. But it wasn’t her problem, this wasn’t her fight.
A hand touched her shoulder and she leaped up, prepared for a fight. Mauro stood before her, eyes wide at the fury he’d just witnessed.
“Good, you’ll need that energy,” he said. “That’s not just Triston out there. So many more need your help.”
“You do it, you help them.”
He allowed a sad smile. “It is not my destiny.”
“What kind of hokey-pokey crap is that?” She clenched her fists, wishing the anger would go away and leave her to her cowardice. “You don’t know anything about me!”
“But I do,” he said. “I know your chance for redemption awaits, and you kneel here wallowing in pity.”
“Enough.”
More screams sounded in the night, and Mauro raised an eyebrow.
“It’s time to stop running,” he said. “They need you. He needs you.”
“I said, ENOUGH!” She shoved him away, then turned to look out at the streets, to where the black of night met the skyline with a red glow. Shadows began to swirl around her, the shape of a wolf.
“Embrace what you are,” Mauro said.
She wiped a tear from her cheek, pissed that she’d shown such weakness at a time like this. No more. The shadows convulsed on her, glowing gold, transforming from shadow to light as she took her first step. Each step came faster, and soon she found herself running, a golden light forming around her and tracing her path.
Howling filled the night, guiding her.
Two werewolves were ahead in the darkness, looming over a cowering elderly woman. Katherine leaped into their midst and transformed in an explosion of chaos as the werewolves turned on her.
With two swipes of her claws and a bone-crunching bite, they were down and she was leaping over their corpses.
Another werewolf appeared in the darkness, leaping toward Katherine. She spun, too late, but then another golden glow appeared—Mauro! He threw himself into the werewolf’s path, taking it down so that Katherine could leap from danger and run off toward the howls in the night.
Three more werewolves appeared, and this time Mauro had caught up with her so that the two could take them out together. Bones crunching. Blood flying.
Katherine dove down a side alley and then came out on a wide street that led to the main square.
There they were, the dozen werewolves they had seen below and many more. The police had arrived, apparently warned by the screams and howling. Gunshots were echoing in the night, but the werewolves weren’t falling—those weren’t silver bullets.
No time to stop and think, she threw herself into the masses. A nearby werewolf turned on her, but she slammed its head into a brick wall and kept on. Her goal wasn’t to take them all down, just Aldrick.
Cops were falling around her—she had to act fast.
Then a BOOM of a gun sounded, and she paused. She knew that gun. Spinning, her eyes searched the night. He stood close to the same street she’d entered from, taking down werewolf after werewolf with his silver pistol.
“Hunter,” she said running up to him and hoping he wouldn’t shoot her.
He took down another werewolf with a shot, and Katherine watched in horror as the creature transformed back into a dying man. More were circling Hunter now, and his silver bullets were shooting one after another until CLICK! No more bullets.
Katherine collided with a werewolf and took it down in time to see Hunter pull out a long, silver blade and then a second pistol.
This time, the pistol was aimed at her! She froze, realizing this could be it—her moment of death.
BAM!
She cringed, then heard a werewolf drop behind her. When she opened her eyes, she saw Hunter had shot one of the others to protect her, and now he was continuing the fight. For a moment, their eyes connected and she gave him a slight nod.
“Stop Aldrick!” Hunter yelled as he slashed through a werewolf.
No time to hesitate, Katherine ran. At the far side of the square she saw people, civilians and police alike, weren’t being killed, but were being dragged screaming into a large church. Seeing no sign of Triston, she shouted in frustration and charged the church.
Almost within reach of the church door, something hard slammed into her.
Gregor!
He threw her to her back and was on top of her, raining down fists and claws. She pulled herself together and raised her arms to block her face, but he was too strong, too fast. The cobblestone beneath her reverberated with each strike, and soon her world was upside down, spinning with red blotches.
He head-butted her, then opened his jaws for a bite. No, she told herself, she wasn’t going down so easily. Mustering all her focus, she wrapped her legs up and over his head to pull him back and to the side. She rolled and landed an elbow in his stomach and then groin.
It wasn’t over though—with a grunt Gregor was back at her, snarling, saliva dripping from his teeth. Katherine felt her muscles refusing to respond. She willed another attack, but saw him moving in for the kill in slow motion.
An arm appeared around Gregor’s neck, claws digging into his face—Danny!
“I’ll deal with him,” Danny said, struggling to keep Gregor in check. “Go!”
Katherine stumbled to her feet and lurched forward, wanting to help, but he held up a hand.
“Go, save your Triston!” he shouted, then body slammed Gregor. The two were clawing at each other, fighting for their lives, but Danny once again shouted, “Go!”
“Thank you,” she whispered, and then ran for the church. At the entryway she paused to spare a look back, and saw Danny ripping at the bigger werewolf’s throat—a spatter of blood, and it was over.
She turned into the church, and froze. It was horrible. Werewolves were feeding on their victims. The room echoed with whimpers and the occasional scream, and above the carnage, at the dais, stood Aldrick. He had the cross above him, glimmering in candlelight, and was yelling judgments, until he saw Katherine in the doorway. He smiled, then motioned to Triston beside him, who tried to lift himself, but collapsed with a shudder.
Katherine ran for Aldrick, teeth bared, but a line of werewolves leaped into her path. She didn’t care—it was time for her to embrace her destiny. As if they were toys, she tossed them aside. One would leap into her way and she’d break its neck, another and she’d tear its guts out before sweeping out another’s legs and then slam it head-first into the floor. The scent of blood, warm and metallic, filled the air.
Her path was clear, and she stepped forward only to get knocked sideways as one tackled her, catching her off-guard. They collided with the pews. More came at her and, as she pushed them back, she saw more and more coming as the victims became werewolves too.
They had her pinned, then paused to see what their alpha commanded. Aldrick smiled from his place at the front of the church.
“Did you think it would be so simple?” He stepped forward, hands spread out. “My Hounds of God will conquer the world, and some orphan thinks she can stop it?”
“She’s not alone,” Danny said, and they all spun to see him in the doorway. He was in half-werewolf form, a mixture of red and gold glowing in his eyes. Mauro stood beside him, full-golden werewolf mode, and Hunter on the other side.
“Wrong choice, Danny.” Aldrick waved his claws and the remaining werewolves closed in on the trio.
Katherine couldn’t let this go on. She made eye contact with Triston, whose eyes pleaded with her. If she didn’t stop Aldrick, Triston would die, the world would die. An army of werewolves, slaughtering all in its way and converting the rest. She would not allow it.
With a growl that seemed to rumble from beneath the church, she felt power surging through her muscles, filling her lungs with crisp air, and expanding her senses until she could almost feel even the slightest variation in the air’s flow.
She flung her captors off of her and leaped from the nearest pew to land directly in the midst of the largest group of werewolves. They were everywhere, masses of fur and claws in all directions, and she was tearing through them.
Clawing out two throats at once, she emerged from the group on the side closest to Aldrick, and charged him.
He met her half-way down the steps. They fell in a mass of werewolf, blood spraying as they clawed each other, but each healing almost as quickly. Werewolf powers were one thing, but this was different—each of them seemed to be pulling from somewhere else, absorbing the power until they were each seemingly unbeatable… or so it appeared until Aldrick managed to trick her, feigning left but really going right so that he kicked out her knee and pinned her against the wall.
His jaws were open for the finishing bite, but he paused, confused by the complete silence. Katherine looked past him to see everyone had frozen and they were all staring at something just past Aldrick. When Katherine’s eyes adjusted, she saw it was Hunter, silver pistol pressed to the back of Aldrick’s head.
“Let her go,” Hunter said.
“The legendary Hunter,” Aldrick said. “You won’t kill me, you don’t have it in you.”
“My name is Liam,” Hunter said. “Liam Aldzis, and I’ve killed many tonight. What’s one more?”
“Shoot him!” Katherine said, squirming in Aldrick’s grasp.
Danny and Mauro were moving forward, taking advantage of the pause in the action.
Aldrick smirked and reached to place his hand around Hunter’s hand and the pistol. “What kind of monster would kill his own father?” He moved the pistol to point at Danny, who suddenly stopped approaching. Next, Aldrick squeezed his son’s finger—the bullet ripped through Danny’s heart and left him gasping in shock on the floor.
“The answer to betrayal,” Aldrick said to Danny, with a look of disgust and pity.
Danny’s eyes went blank as he changed back to human form.
Katherine felt as if the silver bullet had torn through her own heart instead of her best friend’s. She wanted to run to him and cry out, but there wasn’t time.
Aldrick moved the pistol toward Mauro. Hunter seemed frozen, unable to react.
“No!” Katherine shouted, struggling to break free. She brought both her arms down on Aldrick’s with a crack. The shot missed it’s mark, grazing Mauro’s shouler instead.
Now it was her turn to head-butt Aldrick. She pushed him back against the wall and sunk her teeth into his defensive arm.
A moan from Triston pulled at her attention, giving Aldrick the moment he needed to bite out for her throat—she held him back with thumbs at the edge of his mouth. The candlelight flickered in his wild eyes, and she remembered something else that had been glimmering when she’d entered. The cross! She rolled out and away from her opponent and looked up. Sure enough, it looked to be made of silver.
Again, Aldrick grabbed her and slammed her into the wall, causing the cross to creak overhead. She leveraged this—she’d been counting on it—brought a knee to his groin before pushing off of the wall and leaping into the air. With a spinning jump, she grabbed the cross and broke it off, then twisted mid-fall to bring the base of it, now broken into a point, down to stab him in the chest.
He gasped in surprise and shock, watching in horror as she pulled out the cross and blood hemorrhaged from the spot. She swept out his legs and pounced, lifting the cross high above her head. It connected with a sickening crunch when she brought it down hard into his heart.
Aldrick’s howl became a scream as he transformed back into human form and the scream became a gurgle of blood. Then it was gone and his eyes took on a cold, distant look. He was dead, but she couldn’t be too sure. She’d thought him dead once before, after all.
Katherine changed back to her human form as she walked over to Hunter. He was still standing there, confused, staring at the pistol on the ground.
That was her goal—the pistol. She picked it up and turned back to Aldrick.
“This will never happen again,” she said, then blasted all remaining bullets into his head until it was unrecognizable. “Heal from that.”
For a long moment she stood there staring at the remains of what had once been her master. The man she’d thought to be her uncle, and for the longest time thought dead. Now he really was—there was no doubting it.
A roar sounded from the surviving werewolves and it seemed like they would attack. But when the first one turned and fled, the rest followed. Their leader was dead, Katherine realized. They’d find a new one or pick one from amongst themselves, but for now, she’d have a moment to catch her breath.
Triston moaned and Katherine dropped to his side, holding his head in her lap. A sudden rush of emotions hit her, tearing at her insides worse than any wolf-claws could have done. Danny, the friend and possibly more, if things had gone differently, lay dead on the ground nearby. Triston, the man she’d started having feelings for recently, lay dying in her arms.
“Triston,” she whispered, caressing his cheek with her free hand.
His eyes opened and they were cloudy.
“Triston….” She kissed his forehead. “Stay with me.”
Mauro knelt down beside them, checking Triston’s wounds, and then Hunter took a step closer.
“Don’t you dare!” Katherine screamed at Hunter. “This is your fault!”
“I—I….” Hunter looked around the room, and for the first time, he looked like a little child. “He was my father, what could I—”
“No,” Mauro said, holding a hand up for him to stop. “You don’t have to explain yourself.” He must have noticed the glare Katherine gave him for that, because Mauro added, “He’s suffered, as we all have.”
Katherine didn’t care to hear more, but Hunter said, “I’m sorry. After he kil
led my mother, I swore revenge, I almost had him once before, in the fire, but he escaped. And seeing him tonight, eye to eye….”
For a moment Katherine considered unleashing on him, telling him he had no right to be like this, a coward, not when it cost the lives of people she loved.
And on that note, she turned to Mauro. “Will Triston make it?”
“Yes, but not in the way any of us would have hoped,” Mauro said,
“What—” she stopped herself, realizing what he meant. “No, no.” She turned Triston over, and sure enough, there was a werewolf bite on his right shoulder blade.
“The power of regeneration,” Mauro said. “Like all werewolves.”
He would survive, but he’d be one of them now. Even as she watched, Triston’s teeth grew longer and sharp.
“You know what we have to do next,” Mauro said.
“We have to get to safety, to—”
“No,” Triston said, eyes popping open and suddenly full of energy. “We have people to protect. Werewolves to hunt down. Hiding out in the middle of nowhere won’t do anyone any good.”
“Not me,” Katherine said. “I’m done with it.”
“It’s time to stop running,” Mauro said.
Katherine helped Triston to sit up, but her mind was on this challenge. Hunter stepped forward and said, “I failed you all. But I want to try again, do my part to hunt them.”
Instead of shaking her head, Katherine simply stared at the floor. They didn’t know what they were saying. Become some sort of group that goes around hunting others? There were too many of the others. She and her friends would all end up dead within a week.
Triston pulled her close, staring into her eyes. “We can stop them. We have to stop them.”
She shook her head. Hadn’t she been through enough? She’d lost Danny, she’d lost others, and now she had almost lost Triston. Here he was saying he wanted to continue the hunt.
“I—I can’t.”
“Together, Kat,” Triston said. “You and I can do this.”
“You will learn to control your powers,” Mauro said. “But only if you accept.”
Katherine looked between the two, then stared into Triston’s eyes, unwavering. Was this truly something she could do? Something that she would not want to do, but would attempt for the good of humanity?
