Magaestra: Found: An urban fantasy series

by Katherine Kim

  The other wolf was a bit smarter, having shifted fully before attacking. Still, Aldric grabbed his attacker by the throat, the jaws snapping shut just an inch shy of his shoulder. The wolf took the opportunity to swipe out with his claws and pain bloomed across Aldric's chest.

  "That will not save you. Where are the children and Miss Latham?" Aldric snarled into the wolf's ear, not letting go of his opponent's throat.

  A snarl was his only answer. The wolf snapped in his face again, and as he squeezed, the wolf slashed out with both back legs and opened a pair of gashes- one in his side over the newly-healed wound from yesterday, and one slashing down his arm.

  "Look out!" Faith shouted and he ducked, rolling to the side and dropping the wolf. A waft of air told him that the other man had just missed.

  He spun to face the two and hissed. The unshifted one flinched at the sound but the wolf on the ground simply crouched and leaped again.

  "Not the brightest of Honeyford's thugs, are you?" Aldric growled as he caught the mutt by his throat again, this time spinning and slamming the wolf into the floor hard enough to crack the wooden floorboards. The wolf went limp under his hand, but he squeezed down anyway, making sure that the kidnapping lowlife stayed down.

  "Back the fuck off, or the bitch gets it." The smell of gun oil told him the rest of the story.

  Aldric straightened and turned slowly, his face carefully neutral. "You would threaten my allies? With a gun?"

  "You threatened us first!" the man said. His left arm was still clutched to his chest and he was pale with the pain of his injured arm. Aldric could see the tremor in his hand. Would Faith's magic stop a bullet? From the expression she now wore, she wasn't certain, either.

  "Me?" Aldric focused on the wolf. He expanded his vampiric power and let go of his usual restraint. People thought that vampires had the power of mind-control. Even other paranormals often bought into the myth. It wasn't true, not in any real meaning of the phrase. He couldn't erase memories, or force people to do things, or any of the popular ideas that floated around modern culture.

  What he did was much more basic, and far more understandable. He simply let the room fill with his power. The full extent of his predatory nature and his cold, unconcerned, violent intentions froze most creatures in their tracks, to either assess the threat or hope the threat didn't even notice them. The greater the difference between his power and the power of those affected, the stronger the reaction.

  Aldric didn't much care for the ability since it seemed to give him a more than unfair advantage in situations like these, as he was actually fairly strong to begin with. His whole family was, on both sides, and Aldric benefitted from the inherited power. However since he mainly hunted deer and other wildlife, he rarely felt comfortable using it against his prey.

  This man, however? This werewolf who felt justified in stealing children and, Aldric imagined, would be equally involved in their subsequent abuse and torture? Aldric felt no remorse at terrifying someone like that.

  The wolf in front of him seemed to stop breathing and a dark patch spread down his legs bringing the acrid stench of urine and fear.

  Aldric took a step toward him, relaxed now that he was fully in control of the room. "You took innocent people from their homes. You stole children off the street, snatching them out of the hands of those tasked with watching over them. You left those very guardians bleeding on the sidewalk, and intended to help your leader sell a child to your alpha!" He roared the last words and Aldric's power surged and he heard the wolf's heart stutter and slow as it was overwhelmed by the power of the enraged vampire in front of him.

  To the side, Faith gasped, and faintly he could hear Jake's voice calling for him, by name, and felt a surge of power from the cub answering his own. Outside, the wolves still fighting made various sounds of surprise as Aldric’s unleashed power and shouted words reached them: the Goldfang wolves sounded startled and nervous and his own clanmates angry and concerned that he had been pushed that far.

  “And yet you dare to try to accuse me of aggression against you?” Aldric’s voice had dropped back to a reasonable level, but his fangs lent the words a sinister lisp as they deformed his mouth.

  The wolf in front of him stared, unblinking, his eyes larger than could be comfortable. The full understanding of what he faced sunk into his mind now.

  Aldric reached out and took the gun from unresisting fingers. "Faith, I apologize. I try not to lose my temper, as it usually ends... well. Like this. With many corpses."

  And with those words, the wolf's brain simply gave up. His eyes rolled into his head and he dropped to the ground like a pile of laundry shoved to the floor.

  Aldric stared at the body for a moment before turning to face Faith, hoping that he wouldn't see the same terror in her eyes now. He braced himself, his arms held loose at his sides now, holding the barrel of the gun. He felt the blood dripping out of the wounds inflicted by the first wolf, the air cool over his sticky skin. Aldric forced himself to meet Faith's eyes, and she growled at him.

  "I swear to God, if you go around getting sliced up by wolves one more goddamn time, I don't know what I'm going to do but it sure as shit won't be fun for you,” she growled, and stomped up to him, yanking the ripped fabric off his chest and using it to dab at the gashes.

  "Wh–" Aldric was genuinely at a loss. All his anger drained out of him so fast that he was left dizzy with it. He blinked and felt his fangs and claws recede from shock. This was… this was not a reaction he had considered. What could he possibly say to stem the tide of her rebukes?

  "I swear to god, Aldric," she muttered after a moment, tugging a knot tight, having wrapped his shirt around the deepest of the gashes. "When we get back to the clan house I am going to cuff you to the goddamn bed until you're completely healed."

  "You are more than a little terrifying, were you aware of that?" he finally managed.

  She smirked at him. "I do okay. I'll have my meltdown later, when I have time for it. Do you know where the kids are? Or Crissy? Can your crazy vampire senses tell you that?"

  Aldric nodded, and led the way down the hall at the back of the main room. They passed several bedrooms, doors half open to give clear views of the messes inside. It was obvious that the Goldfangs did not value cleanliness. Halfway down the hall, Aldric turned to the left and reached for the doorknob.

  "No! Wait!" an unfamiliar voice shouted.

  When the door swung open a small body slammed into his stomach, knocking the wind from him as pain surged through his body and more blood soaked the makeshift bandage.

  "Uncle Aldric!" Jake cried, his small arms wrapped around Aldric's body and his voice thick with emotion that the boy struggled to contain.

  "I am here, cub. Are you and Miss Kaylee unharmed?"

  Jake only nodded and pressed his face into Aldric's ribs. He tried not to wince too obviously. Across the room, Faith had her arms around a blonde woman and he saw the back of a familiar small head as Kaylee was included in the hug.

  "Crissy," Faith sounded like she was sobbing. "Crissy, oh god, we've been looking everywhere."

  "I'm okay, Faith. Mostly just a few bumps and bruises. I'm okay. We're all okay," Crissy was murmuring.

  Aldric allowed them a few moments before forcing himself to interrupt. "Ladies. I am sorry to break into this moment, but we should leave. I believe Marc and the enforcers are almost finished with their battle. Miss Latham, are you well enough to leave here or are there any injuries we should attend to first?"

  Crissy Latham looked over at him then froze, blinking. "Good lord, you're asking me if I'm too injured to get out of here? What... how are you still standing? You're not one of them are you?"

  “One of the Goldfang Stalkers? I am not," Aldric said.

  "Mr. Aldric's the vampire I told you about, Mom! He's so cool! He saved us from those bad guys I told you about and carried Aunt Faith like a princess all the way to Jake's house and he made sure she was okay and we made cookies there and
everything is okay now if Mr. Aldric and Jake's dad are here!" Kaylee turned to him and frowned. "Are Miss Tamika and Mr. Simon okay?"

  "They will be. Tamika is at the clan house waiting for our return, and Simon is at the clinic where my cousin is watching over him and helping him get better. She is a doctor and was very impressed when I told her how helpful you were after the attack at your cabin,” Aldric was fairly sure that Faith's sister would appreciate a compliment of that sort from him, even as she was clutching her daughter protectively away from where he stood.

  "Miss Latham," he inclined his head in a slight bow. "My name is Aldric Donelly, Chief Enforcer of the Frostwalker Clan. We are made up of both werewolves and vampires, and we welcome you to our lands and offer you protection, family, and friendship."

  Crissy Latham’s eyes narrowed at his formal welcome.

  "They're good people, sis. Aldric stepped in and helped me and Kaylee without even thinking about it, and when we couldn't find you right away, they all started looking, and I’m pretty sure Leo broke a bunch of laws to find this place“ Faith said. "It's okay, you don't need to be scared of Aldric. You can trust them.“

  Crissy didn't say anything. She just pulled her lips in between her teeth and nodded.

  "Uncle Aldric? Why are you bleeding so much?" Jake asked, finally pulling back. Aldric winced at the blood that was no smeared all over the child.

  "Your father is going to be rather irritated with me, and you are going to have a thorough bath when we get home,” Aldric grinned. "There were some wolves in the front room that were disinclined to let us by."

  "Did you beat them up?" Jake asked. "Cause if you didn't, I can help you do that! I would have already, but I had to stand guard in here to make sure nobody came in to hurt Kaylee or her mom."

  "Thank you, pup. We knew that you would watch over them, you did a fine job keeping everyone safe until we got here. Your father will be very proud of you." And seeing Jake safe and unharmed might save Honeyford's life. "We should go now, quickly. Would you stay with them still, please? Protect them until we reach the truck down the road? I will show you the way."

  He set Jake down on his own feet and the boy cheerfully agreed. He met Crissy's eyes and thought he saw a small sign of approval in her gaze. Faith clung to her sister's hand and nodded.

  Jake, his chest puffed up slightly, walked up to Kaylee and took her hand. "Don't worry, Kaylee. I'll protect you. I told you Dad would come find us!"

  "Your dad is the coolest dad ever," Kaylee said before sighing heavily. "Way better than that Jesse guy who said he was my dad. I don't have a dad, though, I don’t care what he said.”

  Aldric glanced at Faith, then at Crissy. Both women were frowning slightly and exchanging speaking looks. He cleared his throat and when they turned their attention back to him he nodded and turned back to the door.

  "Jake. I need you and Kaylee to stay near to her mother and aunt. Keeping the group together is your job. I need you and Miss Kaylee to close your eyes, okay? Take someone’s hand and we will lead you out,“ he said

  “Like when you saved us at the cabin?” Kaylee asked.

  “Just so,” he answered. Knowing that Jake would have something to focus on, and that the women would understand that clearly would help make his task easier. "We are going out the front door, past any fighting that may still be going on, then straight to the truck. Follow me."

  And with that last direction, he opened the door and led the group down the hallway toward safety.

  21

  Faith squeezed Crissy's fingers so tight she was sure she was cutting her sister's blood flow off. Crissy didn't complain, though, just squeezed back. They each had a hand on a child's shoulder, though: Chrissy gripping Kaylee tightly, and Faith holding on to Jake, in case quick action needed to be taken.

  "Are you sure we can trust this guy? Any of these guys? They're not human!" Crissy hissed into her ear. "That asshole Jesse said all kinds of things, but he definitely wasn't lying about that part. I’m not sure just following this guy is auch a good idea.”

  Faith glanced at the back of Aldric's head, but if he heard, he didn't react.

  "Chances are good Kaylee's a shifter, too, or are you ignoring that part? AndJake definitely is. Cris, Aldric is bleeding through his clothes right now because he fought through a bunch of werewolves to save you and the kids, and you're asking if you can trust him? Seriously?" Faith cocked an eyebrow at her sister.

  "If you knew what these... these people were capable of..." Crissy paled and shuddered.

  "I know," Faith said, squeezing her hand again. “I have watched Aldric fight and kill. I can see what sort of evil these Goldfang wolves are capable of, and over the past couple of days I've heard stories that would make you ill and explain so much about our family. But I have also seen with my own eyes that our clan, our people are good people. They're risking their lives for us and for the kids, and this isn't the first time. They took us in, guarded us, explained to me a hell of a lot that I’d bet our mother didn't even know, and..." Faith just shook her head, at a loss. "The Frostwalkers are good people, Crissy. If you trust me at all, trust me on this. There's plenty of evil in the world, but there's also plenty of good."

  Crissy didn't look entirely convinced, but she was still following Aldric and ushering the kids ahead of them. The two werewolves Aldric had fought were in piles on the floor where they had dropped, still unmoving. Faith would never for her whole life forget the moment that he lost his temper at the second wolf.

  She had been already frightened with the gun pointed at her, and even her best guesses at the strength of her magical shield weren’t able to place a bullet on her mental scale. Would her shield stop a bullet or not? But the sheer, rage– the silent vow of extreme violence and pain and blood and death– that suddenly filled the room when Aldric finally snapped...

  She shivered again at the memory. Even knowing that his anger wasn't directed anywhere near her– was in fact in her defense and favor– still didn't make it any less terrifying. And yet, in that moment she had never felt safer or more confident, which was a completely different kind of terrifying that she wasn’t ready to think about right now.

  At the front door, Aldric stopped them and held up his hand, wordlessly asking them to wait. He bent his head to the wood for a moment then nodded, satisfied, and opened it.

  It was with a huge sigh of relief that they stepped outside to find all three Goldfang werewolves on the ground, surrounded by Frostwalker enforcers, and were being restrained by what looked like zipties. Faith didn't care if they were locked up in medieval torture devices, as long as they weren't going to attack.

  Several more were being herded out of the trees by Kenya and Ori and Mia. Honeyford had apparently brought a whole mini pack to hunt up the Lathams, and Faith shivered at the thought of how close they had come to being captured. If Aldric hadn’t burst into the cabin the other day…

  "Jake!" Marc's voice roared the instant the boy stepped outside. Jake's head whipped up and he flung himself at his father, who crouched down and wrapped the boy up so that they could only see Jake’s hair sticking out over Marc's huge shoulder, which shook almost like Marc was laughing or sobbing. Faith would guess both was the right answer.

  "Daddy," Jake's voice was suddenly small. He was safe now, and he could afford to show his little-boy vulnerability, it seemed. Kaylee made to follow Jake, but Crissy held her back with a hand in her shoulder. Kaylee turned to grab her mother’s hand and drag her over to meet Marc herself, but Crissy was barely moving, her feet planted

  Still, even Crissy was smiling slightly at the scene of father and son.

  "There are two more inside," Aldric said to Rod, who raised an eyebrow at Aldric's wounds, then nodded and stalked inside without a word.

  "What are you going to do with them?" Faith asked.

  Aldric grimaced. "That is an excellent question. I would ask Marc what he wants, but he seems a bit busy. We discussed the possibility of calling the
good and persistent detective to come fetch his prisoners, but he would no doubt have a great deal to say on the matter of us handling it ourselves."

  Faith couldn't stop herself from grinning. "Not to mention all the claw and bite marks. And I doubt it's very easy to arrest aggressive werewolves."

  Aldric headed over to have a word with Kenya and Ori who were glaring at their captives but not speaking. "Indeed. I will be right back and we will continue to the truck.“

  He winced as he walked, and Faith stepped farther away from Crissy and Kaylee’s whispered argument about the werewolves surrounding them to hurry over to him.

  "You're bleeding through the shirt. I think there's a first aid kit in the truck, but for sure we need to get you home and cleaned up." Aldric was just turning to answer her when there was a terrible screech, and the horrible howling that seemed like a mockery of the wolves' earlier calls.

  Aldric's head snapped to the trees and he pushed her back toward her sister. "Get back to the lodge and get your shield ready. That’s hunting vampires on the way.”

  Faith's blood went ice cold. Streaming from the trees were what felt dozens of monstrous creatures that seemed like mockeries of the wolves. Boxy heads and glowing red eyes and gleaming teeth with what seemed like leather hides rather than fur, and among them at least a dozen vampires, their own eyes dark and terrifying.

  “Blighthounds!” Someone snarled.

  She grabbed Crissy's arm and Kaylee's shoulder and shoved them, in turn, towards the lodge.

  "No! Jake!" Kaylee shrieked and struggled to run to her friend.

  "I'll get him, run!" Faith yelled. She didn't look to see if they did, just bolted to where Marc was standing up to shift into his own wolf, and put himself between his son and the attack that was almost upon them.

  "I'll shield the kids!" Faith shouted as she grabbed for Jake's hand. Marc nudged Jake towards her with his broad muzzle, then leaped at the nearest hound. A small hand grabbed her hip from behind and she spun, almost taking Kaylee out in the process. "Kaylee! What... where's your mom? Where’s Crissy?”