Chapter 19
“Ben! Fay!” Mel’s musical voice shattered the moment as she came running down from the cabin.
Ben and Fay leapt apart, scrambling to the feet, without looking at each other. Mel didn’t seem to have noticed as she stopped before them, faintly flushed, restless as she shifted on her feet.
“What is it?” Fay asked.
Mel looked between them both before she spoke. “There was an attack on the pack. Six dead, eight captured.”
Ice rushed into Fay’s chest. First an attack on the Underworld, then on Ryan’s pack? It was a bold move. Whoever the witch was she was escalating and fast. The question was, to what end? A war with the Gods but why? And why hadn’t Zeus already intervened to the threat against him? It wasn’t like him to be so idle.
“When?” Ben asked, seeing that Fay was stunned into silence, her mind racing.
“An hour ago.”
“How’d you find out so fast?” Fay asked, her focus snapped back.
Mel sucked in a deep breath, then continued on. “Ryan called me. He asked if I’d seen Ben, if he was okay. Two of the wolves taken were grabbed from town.”
Ben frowned. “Unlikely. He was probably trying to find out where I ask, see if I had an alibi.”
“He couldn’t exactly think you’d be responsible?” Fay asked, disbelieving. “It makes no sense.”
“He knows I hated him after what happened with you. Everything kind of imploded with us after that, so I’d have a motive to hurt him,” explained Ben, grimly.
They ran back to the cabin. An attack meant there might still be a trail, something they could follow, from a distance anyway. Ben ran into his room, returning to the living room a moment later with the keys. Mel snatched them out of his hand and was out the door, straight to the car. Following Ben, Fay went to the car and jumped in. In a flash they were off, speeding up the drive way and down the road back to town.
Within ten minutes they were on the other side of town, heading towards Ryan’s lands. At the edge they pulled over and hid the car behind a thicket of bushes, obscured from the road. Fay was out of the car, followed quickly by Ben, who was starting to shed his clothes. Mel ran around to the back of the car and dragged her gear out of the back of the car; she fastened a hardened leather bodice to her chest, matching gauntlets and a sheathed sword strapped to her back. She also fished out a small necklace and hung it around her neck, slipping it beneath the bodice and her shirt.
As Fay turned around Ben had shifted, his russet fur gleaming, and those luminescent auburn eyes fixed firmly on Fay. It occurred to her, somewhat idly, that he’d never seen her form up close; before, it had been her shifting from across the backyard of her old house, then her running. She tore her gaze away and set about removing her clothes until she wore her underwear. Hardly self-conscious she placed her clothes in the back of the car, then turned back and closed her eyes, willing the shift. With a lurch she fell forward onto all fours, bones shattering and reforming mid-fall. Her large paws sunk into the soft earth. Around her, the world sharpened into dizzying clarity. She looked across to Ben, who watched her cautiously but didn’t look away.
Mel let out a low whistle. “Well, I guess that answer who is bigger. Sorry, Ben.”
It was true. Hellhounds, both male and female, were on average, a third of size bigger than even Alpha wolves, the largest of the werewolf species. Compared to Ben, especially, she was almost double his size. She may have looked leaner in build, though with tall ears that flickered back and forth, taking in every sound, but there was no mistaking her size.
Mel walked over to Ben as he dropped to his belly and she climbed onto his back. She shifted into a comfortable spot and hunkered low onto his back, clutching at his fur.
“Let’s go.”
Ben shot off first. He may have been small but he was still very fast, for a werewolf anyway. Fay bolted after him, her longer strides catching him fast, and she fell into an easy run beside him. They raced along the fringe of Ryan’s land, careful not to cross and disturb the sentries, whose howls and barks were heard nearby. They didn’t seem to notice, or if they did, care that Ben and Fay were close by. By the time the forest hit the base of the neighbouring hills and Ryan’s land was gone a silence had filled the air. They’d reached the site of the first attack. There were still traces of blood soaked deep into the soil and flecked against the trees, faint but there. The metallic smell filled Fay’s lungs, stirring within the demon side. She shifted restlessly on the ground and set out to catch a trail. In the corner of her eye she saw Mel climb off Ben and start to sing, softly, her eyes turning white. Ben didn’t seem to be hunting for trails; rather, he patrolled the clearing they were in and kept watch. He sensed Fay’s straying gaze and met it, dipping his head in acknowledgement before continuing his patrol.
Fay turned to the task at hand and sniffed at the traces of blood. Most of it was the blood of Ryan’s sentries, yet there was, if only the tiniest sliver or it, something else beneath it. It thrummed in the air almost musically, heard only by her, and it drew her. She knew it immediately as the stench of the immortal wolves. The trail had been found. She barked at Ben and Mel, grabbing their attention. Mel’s eyes cleared as she headed over, the song dying on her lips. She glanced back at Ben as he started to head over when he stopped suddenly, his head pricked up. A split second later his ears flattened back as a low, rumbling snarl tore from his snout. He stared at the trees, right in the direction of Ryan’s land.
The wolves had decided to come, after all. She glanced back at the trail, growled with annoyance, then turned to the direction Ben faced. Mel, bravely, summoned magic to her hands and she began to sing softly under her breath. Together, they waited. Truthfully, they probably could’ve run but Fay would’ve been the only one to outrun them. With Mel on his back Ben would’ve been too slow.
Fay faced the wolves with them.
It seemed like an eternity in silence until the first but distant thump of several paws beating against the forest floor was heard. A flash of brown and black through the trees proceeded the rush of six wolves straight at them. Ben bowed low, snarling.
Ryan’s here, thought Fay, lifting her head. She reminded herself she was bigger, stronger and faster than any of them. The problem was, Ben and Mel weren’t. They were outnumbered.
Ryan’s familiar mottled brown wolf came surging from the trees, stopping suddenly with a snarl. His followers appeared a second later, one with a rider. Fay stilled.
Abe.
Her partner climbed off the wolf and froze when he saw her. “Fay?”
Her ears flattened as she snarled warningly at him, trying to appear braver than she felt. At the back of her mind the gnawing fear he’d utter those words rose from within. Mel must’ve sensed it. She flicked her hand out without warning. A black band materialised in a flash around Abe’s mouth. He stumbled back, alarmed, then looked straight at Fay, as if she’d betrayed him. She relaxed and focused on Ryan, as if dismissing him entirely.
The Alpha straightened up suddenly and shifted, standing unabashedly naked before them. Mel made a gagged noise and snapped her fingers, summoning clothes onto his frame.
“My pack is attacked and just as we’re starting to clean up we find you three here; the rogue agent, the traitor and the coward,” snarled Ryan accusingly. “Why did you do it?”
Mel was silent for a moment, frowning; then, without warning, she threw her head back and laughed. “Oh my god, you think we did it? You must be desperate, or stupid. Both, probably.”
“This isn’t a joke. I have six dead wolves and you three rogues running around near the site of the first attack. It doesn’t look good.”
“So, you’re what? Going to arrest us? Kill us? You do realise you’re outmatched or are you plain stupid to think you have a chance against a hellhound? Or a Siren?”
Something warm, like a hand, brushed over Fay’s shoulder and she had a feeling that someone was leaning over her. Which was stupid. Without looking she knew there wasn’t anyone there.
Shift back, whispered in her ear.
It was Andromeda’s voice.
Trust me.
Fay wrestled with the urge to stay shifted before she obeyed. With a groan her bones shattered and reformed. A strange glowing warmth kindled from within her, rising up, fluttering through her limbs, filling her with a strange but comforting sense of power. She rose, slowly, at first, seeing that she was wearing what she had at the lake; only, now, she could see it all for what it was: A black dress, an embroidered bodice with thorn like patterns, and fine details woven into the skirt. She stared down at it for a second. The wolves shifted, growling uneasily. She heard the shock permeate the clearing from both sides. Then she saw her hands. They curled with energy, black as night, warm to her hands.
Slowly, she lifted her gaze and found Abe staring at her, white-faced in horror. Not shock.
Fay’s body pulsed with surprise. He wasn’t shocked by her change, as if he knew it was possible all along. Had it been the thing he’d been so afraid she’d become? She felt her demon crow with delight, as if it had bested him.
She stood up. “I’m not going anywhere with you or him,” she said calmly, slanting an icy look at Abe. “I won’t obey, not to you, not to Thanatos or Hades.”
Abe flinched, looking down, ashamed. She felt cruel for wounding him, for breaking from him but she had to. For her sanity, for her heart.
“That’s cute but I will finish what I started two years ago.”
Fay stepped in front of Ben and Mel, holding up her hand, beckoning him, tauntingly. “Oh, bring it.”
Ryan held out a hand to his wolves, holding them at bay.
Ryan’s eyes flickered to her glowing hands, hesitating for a split second. Two years ago, she’d been confused, unsure of her own ability. Now, she was the weapon, the real demon from hell.
He leapt forward, shifting mid-air. Fay shot forward, a blur of motion, hurling a bolt of energy at him. He landed, ducking to the side, narrowly missing. With dizzying speed he came at her. Fay was ready, her mind flashing with the moment Medea had hurled her into that prison. She threw her hands up just as he lunged.
A wave of darkness slammed into Ryan, then consumed him whole. He vanished into thin air. As the wolves lunged forward, Abe moved too, Fay ignored them all and stepped into her prison.
The cold, welcoming chill embraced her and the shadowy gloom descended over everything. Ryan was on his knees, clutching his chest as he groaned. Fay stepped up to him and the alpha slowly lifted his gaze.
“What the hell was that?” He hissed.
Fay wanted to speak. She felt her mouth open but she didn’t feel in control, like someone else was pulling the strings. From deep within she felt her demon side stir; then, rather than fall asleep once more, it rose up inside of her, the claws dragging through her throat. It wanted to speak. Then, she did – or, rather, it spoke in a voice that sounded half like Fay, half like someone else…like…
“Fay did not harm your park.” Fay knelt down, the demon in control of her body, and stared into Ryan’s eyes, his mind slowly crumbling before her eyes in the presence of what was within her. “You’ve been touched, given this obsession. You know only that you hate Fay, that you want her dead. You did your best to ignore it, to overcome it but it’s too much, isn’t it?”
Ryan’s mouth quivered but only a strangled cry came out.
Fay touched his cheek and she heard a clicking sound come from her mouth, mocking. “Tell your master I’m coming. I’ll finish him, I’ll finish what I started.”
Ryan’s eyes darkened and the terror fell away; only, it seemed like someone else was staring back at Fay and her demon master. The rims of his irises glowed gold.
“My dear Andromeda, you still don’t understand. This has never been about destroying you but you’ll understand that soon enough. Now, why don’t you give this girl back her body? It’s not time and we both know that.”
ns 15.158.61.6da2
