The Legend of the Werewolf (35 page)

Westley shut his eyes, silently
speaking to Brock and telling the other werewolf to cut out a few
of the lights.

Half of them went out, leaving just enough
illumination to cast phantom shadows that stretched, pulled, and
swayed. The lamp Bill and Anne sat under remained lit, but its’
beams weren't bright enough to keep any small shadows from reaching
them.

It would not offer them any protection
should Hadrian attack with any of his shadow soldiers. Which was
the point.

"I'm so sorry about this," Bud
whispered.

Mike stared down at his younger brother
before clapping him on the back. "It's my fault for bringing you
into this. You did well, though."

"What about your backup? When are they
getting here?" Bud asked.

Mike didn't bother checking his watch.
He'd called Jason and had his partner's assurance they’d have the
help they needed hours before Mike set off into the Shadow
World.

He’d called again after Hadrian
escaped, but only got voicemail.

That shouldn’t have
happened.

The cavalry should have arrived, but Mike
couldn't tell his younger brother that. "They'll be here any
minute. With some luck, they'll get here before this whole thing
even starts and everything will be fine."

His words didn't seem to offer the comfort
Mike hoped they would. Bud nodded anyway, lips pressed together in
a firm line.

Mike felt the same as his brother
looked. Even though it was the only plan that made the most sense
for capturing Hadrian, and they were taking every precaution
necessary, Mike wanted to turn all the lights back on, take Anne
back to their cabin and make sure no evil warlocks ever laid their
eyes on her again.

Despite how his worry entirely belonged to
Anne, everyone else in the pack, save for Westley and Chris,
focused their energy solely on Bill. No one wanted the real
legendary werewolf to be sitting out there and putting himself in
danger.

Stop worrying,
Anne said, shocking
Mike with the ease in which she got inside his head. He usually
kept his mind closed against anyone who might be listening. A habit
as a psychic and a cop. In his worry, he'd forgotten
that.

Anne stared right at him despite
the trimmed bushes he, Bud and Westley used for cover.
We've got the
stone. The second he shows up, I'll pull it out, get rid of the
shadows, and then you can come and arrest him.

And, if for some reason that
doesn't work, we can always switch the lights back on. I know, it
doesn't make me feel any better about this,
Mike replied. The crashing of glass
took his attention away from her.

The source came from the hanging lamps
that Westley ordered to be shut off.

Each of them brightened and popped,
raining down glass.

Mike tensed, waiting for the light above
Anne and Bill's head's to explode as well. They waited for the same
thing, looking up and crouching low should they need to spring
away.

The lamp above them remained lit, as
did every other light that Westley hadn't ordered shut
off.

"What's going on?" Bud
asked.

Mike knew. "He's making sure we can't
flip the lights back on over him."

The same hatred, swirling emotions and
energy bent on killing, entered his mind like it had done that
night he was attacked in the bar.

Mike sighed and shook his head. “Shit,”
he said, shimmying out from under the porch to stand.

"What are you doing?" Westley
hissed.

"He knows we're hiding here. Might as
well step out." Mike raised his head and called, "Come on
out."

Wind kicked up. The trees rustled and
swayed, then gently stopped as the wind died.

Hadrian appeared just inside the
darkness, out of reach of the lamps. His robes flapped about his
body with the swirl of air traveling through this world and the
dark side. The arrogant twist of his lips sent a warning bell off
in Mike's head.

"Are you waiting for someone,
detective? Are your friends late?"

The warning bells turned into shrieks of
rage as the answer to Jason's tardiness slapped him in the face.
"What did you do with them?" His fists clenched until his finger
nails bit into his skin.

Hadrian folded his arms and shook his
head. "I did not dispose of them, I merely placed them where they
would be of no use to you."

The Shadow World.
Great.

Anne lifted herself from her spot on
the log, held back from approaching the madman only by Bill's hand
clasped around her wrist, the moonstone all but forgotten beside
her.

She must’ve pulled it out when the
lamps burst.

Luckily, its bright glow dimmed to the
point where it could not be detected beneath the cloth that covered
it. Hopefully Hadrian wouldn’t see it.

"How could you have taken a group of
armed men to the Shadow World? You told me that you had no more
power in this world."

Hadrian shrugged. "I lied."

He lunged without allowing anyone to
digest the information. He appeared across the lawn in an instant,
his hand wrapped around Antoinette's neck.

"Annie!" Mike sprinted but halted when
Hadrian raised his other hand, glowing red, and brought it to her
face. Though he refrained from touching her, Anne struggled and
twisted her face away from the heat. Her hand wrapped around his
wrist, trying to pry it off, but Hadrian was like rock. Indifferent
to her bone crushing grip as he refused to release her.

Bill calmly stood, still holding her other
hand in his. Mike wondered if that was the only thing that kept
Hadrian from running back into the Shadow World with her, Bill's
ability to ground them in the real world.

"Is that how you treat the woman you
love?" hHe asked.

"I will scar her face. No one but I
will ever want her if she is a monster like me." Hadrian's eyes
glowed the same color red as the fiery heat in his hand.

Anne squeezed her eyes shut against the
burn. "Let go of me," she hissed through clenched teeth.

"Let her go!" Mike called, stealing
Hadrian's attention as the Warlock spun his head to stare, his eyes
narrowed and suspicious. "If it's me you want to kill, then come
and get me. I'm right here. Just don't hurt her."

"You!" Hadrian said the word and spat. "I
was a fool to ever assume it had been you!" His head leisurely
turned again, this time to face Bill. "How you have changed, 'tis
no wonder you have hidden so well from me all this
time."

Bill's eyes widened. Hadrian removed
his heated hand from the close proximity to Anne's face and pointed
it at him. The red glow increased in his open palm as though he
intended to shoot him with it.

Mike was already across the field. He
braced his shoulder and slammed all his weight into Hadrian,
knocking him down before he could fire anything.

Hadrian screamed, his hand slipping from
Anne's neck with the force of the blow, and Mike pinned him to the
grass before he could attempt to fire off anything else.

The act was like a signal for the rest of
the pack who all shed their clothes, leapt into the air, and
transformed into wolves before their paws hit the ground. They
kicked up dirt and grass to be the first to sink their teeth into
Mike's captive.

No! Mike needed him alive to get those
people out of the Shadow World.

"Wait!" He screamed just as the pack leapt
into the air once again, their claws long and stretched out while
their jaws opened for the first bite.

Mike ducked over Hadrian to protect him
and felt the first weight smash into his shoulder.

He waited for the teeth and claws to
rip into him but nothing came. No other pressure against his back
suggesting that he'd been tackled by another revenge seeking
werewolf.

He looked up. No wolves were crushing
him with their weight except for Anne, who wrapped her arms around
his body for protection. She hid her face between his shoulder
blades and he felt stiff fury rise inside him.

"Are you out of your mind? What were you
thinking?!"

Her lips trembled. "I was thinking I'd
rather die than see you hurt."

Love swelled inside his chest like a
balloon. God. She almost did die.

They looked at each other. Mike sensed her
confusion as, she too, had expected to be torn apart before her
brothers realized they were digging their teeth into the wrong
people.

Both looked up and discovered why.
Hadrian laughed manically beneath Mike.

Shadow soldiers, hundreds of them, easily
triple the amount that first came to attack the pack, surrounded
the wolves, creating a wall that separated them from each
other.

The silver wolf Mike recognized as
Westley, made an attacking leap and fell right through one of the
creatures he meant to tear apart.

Mike had hoped that destroying the castle
would have freed them. Guess it took a lot more than
that.

A cloud of black shadows jumped at
Westley, pinning him in the dirt. Anne jumped from her protective
place over Mike and ran to help him but was tackled by another
shadow and held down.

“
Hey!” Mike ran to her but was
thrown from his feet. He punched the shadow, his fist moving
straight through the thing’s face before he, too, was pinned. Like
a jet had been dropped on him, he couldn’t move.

A thunderous roar echoed. Chris charged in
his dragon form. The flames shot like spit from his mouth,
scattering the ghosts.

When the shadow that had him pinned
leapt off, Mike used his chance to tackle Hadrian as he was
rising.

“Call them off.”

“No.”

The shadows climbed on Chris like ants
and forced him to the ground. His heavy weight shook the earth.
Their bodies stretched around his long mouth, clamping it shut to
keep anymore fire from spewing and harming them. They did the same
with his wings when he started to flap them violently, completely
immobilizing him.

Westley whined at the sight, the wolves
howled and cried as well. Whether it was at the sight of their
helpless pack master or Anne or Chris's mistreatment, Mike didn't
know.

Nor did he care.

With a calm deliberation, he lifted his
hands from Hadrian's wrists and closed them around his neck. "Let
them go or I will kill you."

He meant it. Fuck putting this man behind
prison bars. He didn’t care about that while Hadrian ordered his
spirits to attack Annie. He just wanted the man to stop and made
the decision to do anything within his power to make that happen,
regardless of the cost.

A heavy weight crashed into Mike's side.
He flew right off of Hadrian and landed with a heavy thud in the
grass and rolled. The impact stole the air from his lungs and for,
two seconds, he couldn't breathe.

He forced his chest to work and air to
go where it needed when his hands were pinned on either side of his
head.

Mike looked away from the shadows that
inched their faces closer to his, as though inspecting
him.

He ignored it and raised his head,
searching for Annie.

Westley bucked and kicked, though his
attacks went straight through the shadows. Chris dug his giant
talons into the earth, shifting his weight in an attempt to buck
the living shadows off him. Anne still struggled on the
grass.

They were on her. She didn’t look hurt,
but it didn’t matter. He was going to destroy them all.

Bill was the only one still standing.
He faced Hadrian with a straight back and a calm eye.

Hadrian sneered and folded his arms.
"There was a time when you could have received a lashing for not
bowing to me."

"Things change, my lord."

"Not everything." Hadrian swept his
robes out of the way and made for where Anne still struggled
against the things that held her.

Mike bristled. "Don't touch
her!"

"She's not Luna, Hadrian," Bill called.
Only then did the Warlock's feet halt. He half turned to regard the
man who once worked as his servant.

Bill pulled the cloaked moonstone from his
robes, his eyes pleading. A sign that Mike did not take to be a
good one.

"She never came back to Earth
since that night. I can tell you right now that if she incarnated
herself as a human, I would have found her by now. That girl
is
not
Luna," he said again for emphasis.

Hadrian narrowed his eyes. Anne waited
with bated breath. Finally he turned to face her.

Mike felt her fear spike as he observed
her.

"If this is true…she did say you are her
grandfather." Hadrian's hands glowed again. The shadows dragged her
toward him by the legs, pinning her so she would have to look up at
the crazed man.