Coven of Wolves (33 page)

With a wicked look in his eye, Malik says, "So do your parents know what you did for money after you ran away from home?"

My blood instantly freezes inside my body. The world around me goes slack. "Shut up."

Now grinning devilishly, Malik continues, "Do they know you let lecherous old men fondle you so that you could afford something to eat?"

My head spins. "I said shut up!"

Laughing, Malik says, "You didn't tell them, did you? You didn't tell them that the whole reason you even know me and learned that you were a witch in the first place is because I paid you fifty bucks to go to a sleazy motel so I could screw your brains out."

I can feel the excitement buzzing around me slowly begin to settle with each word Malik utters. I'm afraid to look back and see the horror in my parent's faces.

Relentless, Malik turns in my parent's direction and says, "Your little boy was always best on his knees though."

Yelling in rage, I fling curse after curse at Malik, hoping one will strike his mouth shut forever. Instead, he simply laughs as he blocks each unfocused hex sent his way. I know that if I want to truly hurt him, I need to clear my head so that the magical energies I use aren't just wasted effort. The anger he brings about in me though makes it hard to do. Like an angry child, I lash out at him with every raw emotion at my disposal. Unfortunately, the anger I now give magical voice to isn't just stemming from Malik's venomous words anymore, but also at my own foolish naivety for playing so easily into his hands.

Finally when he's had enough of my barrage, Malik sends a wall of eldritch energy directly at me. Too unfocused to think properly, I react too slowly. The wall hits me like a truck, slamming me into the air as if I were a rag doll. I land on the other side of the forest clearing, bloodied and broken.

The pounding in my head takes me away from anything else for a moment. I stagger back to my feet while holding my head tightly in my hands. I feel like my head is going to explode. Is this what a concussion feels like? Trying to stand, I shiver in pain as I feel one of my ribs has broken inside. I open my eyes but it's hard to focus. In front of me I see a bright light headed directly towards me. The moment it strikes, I scream out in agony as every nerve in my body is suddenly awake and lit afire with high-level pain.

I try to push past the pain and form a shield directly in front of me, but instead I am hit on both sides by another wave of painful magic. I fall to my knees as my body goes into shock.

Using the only tool at my disposal, I focus on Malik's amulet. It augments my powers, allowing me to form a small protective dome around myself. Once it is formed, I can feel it immediately block another attack from Malik. The dome provides me a chance to catch my breath and better collect my thoughts. Unlike the protective circles I've used before though, this form of protection is produced entirely from my own inner magic. Because of this, once my energy is taxed, it'll be all over for me entirely.

I cough up blood while trying to slow down my breathing, to better lessen the pain to my body. I look down. Mixed in with my blood I see green grass beneath me. The pungent smell of earth and my own blood fills my nostrils. I can feel these raw elements of life now give me added strength.

Gaea, mother of all life, if ever you were ever needed, please, help now guide my actions. Weak though I am, through you I know I shall find peace.

I take in several more breaths, feeling the pain slightly subside.

Suddenly interrupted, I feel another hit to my protection dome, then another. I look up and can see Malik near me, preparing to send another hex my way. The look on his face is complete triumph. Quieting my mind, I close my eyes and envision Malik's hex rebounding onto himself once released. I gently push my will outward, allowing the strength I've gathered from the earth and Malik's own amulet to guide my magic to fruition. When I open my eyes I see Malik throwing his next curse at me as a star baseball pitcher would throw an opening pitch at a ball game. The moment he lets go of his energies though, the spell changes direction. Malik is immediately hit square in the face with his own hex. He screams out in pain, holding his face in his hands.

Dispersing my protection dome, I stand up before him. I close my eyes and feel every ounce of pain in my body. I imagine transferring that pain over to the one who caused it. I push my will outward and open my eyes. My spell takes effect, sending Malik into additional painful spasms of his own. Unfortunately, my physical weakness caused a brake in my concentration. Not all of my pain is transferred to Malik as I had hoped. I can still feel the ghost pain from my broken rib, stinging from my demon scratches and throbbing from my concussion. I still take satisfaction in the reduced pain level though, and focus on my next plan of attack.

Taking advantage of Malik's dazed and pain filled state, I use my left hand to grab Malik at his neck. Though weakened, I can still feel part of my enhanced werewolf strength remain. I use it to lift him into the air. Malik grabs for his throat in response, trying to remove the vice grip I have on him. I can tell he is too disoriented to try a magical attack. Blocking off his air, he drops Luke's cane in the process of trying to regain his freedom. I magically call for Luke's staff. Immediately it flies into my free hand. I place it into one of my now empty sword scabbards and remove my Synoro sword from the second one. I can see Malik's eyes rolling to the back of his head. He's about to pass out due to lack of oxygen. I throw him to the ground. Slowly his color comes back to his face and he retches in air into his body dramatically.

Before he can try anything, I move my sword's blade against his neck. My unsteady hand causes a slight cut in the process. With my other hand I grab him by his hair. Holding him this way, I'm so intimately bound to his being that Malik won't be able to teleport away without taking me with him.

Malik looks into my eyes, pleading for mercy. Stammering through my pain hex, Malik says to me, "You loved me once. Let me go and I'll put all of this behind me. I won't come after you or your family. I promise."

Remembering one of my last magical lessons with Anna, I use a spell even Malik is new to. In my mind I think of the Latin word for truth. I mentally associate the word with Malik and say aloud, "Verum". The word comes out of my mouth strangely.

Almost immediately I can see Malik's facial expression change. His face contorts into extreme anger. With malice filled hate in his voice, he says, "Once I'm free, I'm going to kill you. I'll make you suffer as long as possible. I want to see pain in your eyes before you finally die screaming. All that'll be left is a rotting corpse. Then I'm going after everyone you've ever loved and kill them too! You'll pay for what you did! YOU'LL PAY!"

Malik reaches up and punches my broken rib. Instinctively, I release him to cover the wound on instinct with my free hand. Malik disappears beneath me. I try to suppress the pain to my chest as best I can but tears form in my eyes from the effort. Now standing, I hold my sword at my side, taking a deep breath to steady my nerves.

As I look around me, I can see countless wolves looking at me with question in their eyes. Some have reverted back to their human forms, while others stay in their full hirsute states. They seem uneasy, not sure what to do or say. Not sure what to say to them myself, I look instead at my family and friends. They are huddled around Fenrus and Luke's now dead body. In my parent's faces I see hurt and pain. I can only imagine what must be going through their heads. I came out to my mother when I was 15 years old, so hearing about my being gay isn't as big a shock to her as it would be to my father. Now knowing about my hustling days though, that has got to be killing them both inside. My heart breaks for them. My secret shame is now open to everyone that matters to me.

In Tobias' eyes however, I see a strong yearning to be by my side. He leans forward several times, always taking a step back, remembering my wishes to fight Malik alone. Not being able to fight beside me is clear agony for him. Through our magical rapport I can feel that Tobias' love for me is stronger than ever. I thank the goddess, realizing now more than ever, that having him in my life is a blessing I can never repay, let alone deserve. Mika stands beside him holding his hand in support. She projects kindness and sympathy. How can someone I only met a little over a month ago be so open with her friendship? Beside Mika I see my half-brother Damon looking back at me with the same kind eyes. I thank the goddess for them as well.

I then magically scan my surroundings for Malik, not sure where he vanished to. I get a funny feeling at the base of my stomach. I know something bad is about to happen. I look at Tobias and the feeling gets worse.

"Tobias!", I yell. "Look out!"

Sure enough, Malik appears behind Tobias and stabs him in the back. Tobias lurches forward in response. Reacting quickly, Mika spins around and strikes the back of Malik's neck with her forearm. She then kicks at Malik's leg, causing him to kilter his stance somewhat. Angered, Malik strikes Mika's face with the back side of his fist before disappearing again. I run over to Tobias.

Just then I look up and see Malik appear behind my mother. He uses his knife to slash across her back, then disappears laughing. My father yells out in shocked anger. Suddenly Malik appears behind Damon, and pierces his back as well just before disappearing again. This time I hear Gabriella and Nicholas yell out in grief. I close my eyes and immediately sense Malik materializing behind me. I reach back and grab Malik's hands, throwing his body over my shoulder. Malik lands on the ground before me with a look of shock. I slam my foot down on Malik's neck and say, "I'm no one's victim anymore."

I twirl my sword in the air and bring it down into Malik's chest. He opens his mouth but all that comes out is a weak gasp. Still holding the sword's handle, I quickly twist the sword in place. With my magical eyes, I can see the glow of Malik's life force slowly begin to dim. Pulling the sword out of his body, I will for Malik to rise in the air. Holding Malik's amulet in my free hand, I repeat the words used in Anna's last spell. As I do so, I imagine Malik's amulet being destroyed and reduced to nothing but powdered rust. The power emanating from the amulet withers away as the amulet breaks off into the wind, becoming nothing but red dust.

Above me I can sense the demons locked away behind the dimensional ripple. They are angry and crave flesh. Somewhere inside me something snaps. The werewolf aspect of myself that Fenrus taps into suddenly emerges on it's own. I can feel my body growing larger...stronger. My claws grow long and razor sharp. I see Fenrus looking at my change in wonder. Returning my gaze to Malik floating in front of me, I use my claws to slice him in two. As I howl in triumph, the remains of Malik's body drift upward toward the ripple. It stops short just before it can pass through. As best as I can manage in my werewolf form, I say, "Most unclean, be gone."

With that, Malik's body disappears into the ripple, allowing the demons on the other side to take out their anger on what is left of the man I once considered a savior.

In my head I can hear Fenrus say, "Devin, they're hurt."

Looking to my side, I see Tobias and my mother laying on the ground bleeding. Mika is holding on to Tobias while my father holds onto my mother. Fenrus nudges Tobias in concern. Gabriella, Nicholas, and Damon stand with them as well. I can see that Damon's wolf metabolism has already kicked in and is self-healing the knife wound Malik gave to his back. I run over to my family, shifting back to my human form along the way. Although they're both still conscious, I can also tell that if they don't get their wounds looked at right away, the wounds could turn fatal.

Thinking fast, I turn to Anna and say, "Please, we need to get them to a hospital. Can you teleport them?"

Positioned several yards away, the very youthful Anna simply looks at me silently.

Confused and getting angry, I repeat, "Did you hear what I said? They could die if we don't get them to a hospital soon. Mika and I can't teleport long distances. You still have the Bracelet of Bastet. You can get them to a doctor in an instant. We need your help!"

Anna remains unmoved with a blank expression on her face.

Mika steps forward and says, "Grandmamma, Tobias is hurt. We need to do something."

Anna reaches out her arm to Mika and says, "Our work here is done. Come, we've a lot more work to do elsewhere."

Perplexed, Mika holds onto Tobias and says, "I'm not going anywhere. Tobias and Devin's mother need us."

Looking frantically behind her now, Anna says, "Mika Renee Williams, we don't have time for this. They're coming! Take my hand now!"

Mika looks sternly at Anna, standing her ground.

Now angered, Anna tells Mika. "My apartment is to be left undisturbed. Under no circumstance is anyone to enter it."

With that, Anna swings her arms upward, causing her white cloak to swirl around itself. In an instant the cloak disappears, taking Anna along with it.

Reaching down, I take both Tobias and my mother's hands into my own. I can sense they are getting weaker by the moment. I close my eyes and focus on my own inner power. I will for part of my strength to leave my body and enter into theirs. I'm overcome with exhaustion. When I open my eyes I see that some color has returned into their faces, but their wounds still haven't healed. Feeling helpless, I look around for any sign of help. I finally lock eyes with my father and see that he is just as devastated as I am.

Suddenly, a bright light appears in the center of the forest clearing. Each of us holds our hands over our eyes to avoid being temporarily blinded. When the light finally dims, we find, standing in it's place, are two women. One I recognize immediately. The other, I don't recognize at all.

Sitting on her earth hewn throne is a majestic looking older woman. She is ghost-like, and as before, I am overcome with the feeling of safety and security. Her shining robes sparkle as she stands. My goddess has arrived. Standing beside her is a middle aged woman with wild fire colored hair. She wears a green shift dress with no shoes. Like Gaea beside her, this new goddess emanates great power.