Arrival of the Prophecy (9 page)

“Everyone knows what to do. Kayla, this is where you wait until this
is over,” Anthony said helping her off the bike.

“What if she needs me?”

“I’ll bring her to you,” he said pulling her into a hug. “I
promise.”

Anthony watched as Kayla slid behind a pine tree, then he nodded to
the men in the car. He turned the key and revved the motor, peeling out toward
Stack’s cabin. He saw his car as he came up over the rocky landscape of the
cabin’s entrance, then noticed a second vehicle that he remembered seeing his
brother in once. Anthony made sure not to make any sudden movements with his
head, in case they were watching through the window. Looking by only moving his
eyes he counted four of his enforcers in werewolf form, sneaking up from behind
the cabin as he rolled to a stop beside the vehicles.

Stack stepped out on his porch and waited to see what Anthony was
going to do. Anthony hit the kick stand and got off, never acknowledging the
creatures that were moving about in the forest close by. He looked up at Stack,
stood in a comfortable position, sticking one thumb in each of his jean pockets
and smiled with his head slightly tilted.

“Hey boss man, come to have a beer?” Stack scratched his groin area.

“You should have thought twice before getting involved in this, Stack,”
Anthony replied slowly walking toward the cabin steps.

“Brave words for a man that stands...who knows how many to one,”
Timothy claimed stepping out with
Gray
at his back.

“You can add one more to that list brother,” Tory stated coming out
around
Gray
and taking Timothy by the arm.

“Why am I not surprised to see you here, Tory?” Anthony asked,
stopping a few feet from the steps.

“Maybe you’re not as smart as you thought you were,” she replied
with a shrug.

“So this is how it ends,” Anthony said, holding up both hands. “You
kill me so you can have the throne, but you have to explain how you plan to
kill off grandfather, not to mention grandmother, you know she won’t stand for
any of this.”

“What are you talking about? No one is going to touch, grandfather,”
Timothy yelled.

“What are you going to tell him about my death? There’s been no
challenge. Grandfather has met Sky and knows all about my plans, just ask the
one that grips your arm, she was there the day they met, or did she fail to
mention that?”

“He lies!” Tory yelled.

“You were there,” Anthony yelled back.

“He’s trying to save his own ass,” Stack remarked.

“What Timothy? Kill me, find out for yourself. Are you waiting for
something little brother, or shall I go have lunch and come back when you have
become a man, and can do your own dirty work?”

“Don’t listen to him Timothy, he’s trying to make you angry, they’ll
come,” Tory said, whispering the last.

“I know, why don’t you just send
Gray
off
that porch, no Stack...better yet, why not Tory, she does match your spine
best,” Anthony provoked.

“I’ll explain about your dead corpse when the time comes!” Timothy
screamed diving off the porch.

“Timothy, no,” Tory screamed, grabbing the sides of her head then
stumbling forward into the post that held up the
over hang
on the porch.

 
Anthony’s body crashed into
the car behind him with Timothy on top with his claw like hand clamped firmly
around his throat. Anthony swung slamming his fist into Timothy’s jaw rocking
him backwards, and then repeated it until Timothy’s grip loosened. As the two
men rolled, fighting and shifting,
Gray
began
slipping out of his suit as he too began to take on the form of his hidden
beast. Howls erupted violently, surrounding the cabin and
incasing
it in an eerie onslaught of attack. Stack turned tail at the first sound of
defeat, disappearing into the cabin. Tory jumped off the porch, running for the
car she and Timothy had driven up in. She opened the door, sliding in and
grabbing at the ignition, only to find the keys missing.

“Looking for these?” Kayla asked, shaking the keys in her hand as
she slid out the back door.

“You little bitch,” Tory growled, slamming her fist into the
steering wheel.

Anthony stood over seven feet tall looking down at his fur covered
brother, who lay clutching his throat trying to stop the blood that was gushing
out every time his heart took a beat. Anthony threw back his long fang filled
snout, and let out a guttural howl that echoed throughout the mountain, and
then he clinched his claw like fist, and lowered his gaze. His mind knew to
finish what he had started, but his heart was telling him a different thing,
until Timothy made one last desperate attempt to stand against him.

Timothy pushed himself off the ground with jaws wide open, hoping to
lock them around Anthony’s neck. With lightning speed, Anthony grabbed
Timothy’s upper jaw in one hand and lower jaw in the other, forcing him back to
the ground, never losing his grip. He put his knee on Timothy’s chest, with him
struggling the entire time. As he looked down into the eyes of a man who knew
he was about to die, in one swift motion, Anthony slammed Timothy’s head on the
ground ripping his jaws apart, crushing in his skull, and ending the life of
his only brother.

Gray’s
body was
consumed in werewolves, that didn’t break away until he lay in a puddle of his
own fluids. Tory had Kayla on the ground, hitting her in the face with furious
manic blows. Anthony was storming toward them when another werewolf crashed
into Tory’s human form, snapping and tearing the flesh of her face. Tory’s
screams slowly died as the dark brown wolf ripped chunks of her flesh clean
off, and swallowed it whole.

Sky continued to devoir Tory’s now mangled body, when the rest of
the werewolves started gathering around her. She looked up covered in blood and
bits of human flesh. The reality of who she was came colliding back in, but
nothing else made sense. She looked back, seeing Kayla’s lifeless little body
on the ground, and then looked back to all the creatures that were starting to
get down on all fours. Panic set in. She knew she couldn’t protect the little
girl from this many, so she bolted through the woods in fear. When her people
tried to follow, Anthony made a sound that let them know to stay and he alone
took off after his queen.

Sky embraced her new form as she ran through the forest. It was
Tory’s blood rushing in her veins that gave her what every shape shifter needed
to cope with their beast and it too was now sated in its introduction into the
world. She came to a rocky cliff that overlooked a forty foot drop-off, that’s
when she heard something move in the undergrowth in the forest and spun around
in time to see a large black werewolf jumping over a fallen pine tree, coming
in her direction. She turned and started down the rim of the cliff, but stopped
to look back when she heard her name called out. She slid in behind a group of
oak trees that were next to her and watched as the black beast came closer.

“Sky, it’s me,” Anthony said in a deep animalistic voice, holding out
his claw like hands showing he meant no harm.

 
Sky stepped out and started
whimpering, dropping to her knees, and lying over on the ground. Anthony walked
over and kneeled down on the ground next to her, stroking her head, until she
crawled into his lap. He held her, licking the blood off of her face, while she
closed her eyes and leaned into his massive chest. The calmer she became, the
slower her heart rate declined, and the more her beast readied itself to
retreat. Anthony made a soothing sound, almost like a purr, while he rocked and
cleaned her lovingly.

Sky pushed herself back, looking up into Anthony’s eyes as they both
watched each other change back into their human forms. Skin appeared where fur
once was, leaving only a slimy residue in its place. Sky fell back into
Anthony’s arms and wept. He held her tight; humming a tune she didn’t know and continued
to rock her, just as he had in his other form. Anthony held Sky, letting her
release all the emotions that had been compiled on her in such a short time,
praying to his Earth Mother to give her the personal strength that only she
could. He swore that he would care for all of her other needs with his very
last breath, if only Sky could be free of the horror of becoming his kind.

“What happens to me now?” she whispered softly.

“Whatever you wish, Sky.
I only want you to be happy. I never meant any of this to happen to
you. I was selfish thinking I had to trick you into loving me. I almost lost
the most precious thing that I’ve ever found,” he said, pausing as tears fell
down his cheeks. “I can’t give you back the life you had, but I can offer you
one that will be full of love and laughter, one where neither of us is ever
alone again...ever.”

“I’m not upset at this wonderful gift that you’ve given me,” she
said sitting up kissing the tears from his cheeks. “I killed that woman.”

Sky slowly sat back running her hands down his face, tears reforming
in her eyes as the vivid memories flew back in. She closed her eyes tight, and
covered her face with her hands, going over scene by scene, right to the moment
where she pulled a mouthful of Tory’s abdomen off and started to swallow it. She
stood so fast that Anthony fell backwards. She then dashed to the side and
began heaving out the substance that was now clawing its way back up her
throat.

“She was hurting that little girl, I wasn’t thinking straight,” she
mournfully explained.

“You are her queen, Sky, you only did what any good queen would do,”
Anthony replied with his own explanation, walking over, taking her under the
arm.

“The big one came to my apartment and told me your driver was needed
someplace else, then I...I just can’t remember much at that point. But what
bits I do, I was in the basement at your brother’s club, I could hear the
music,” she spoke as he led her back in the direction of the cabin. “It hurt so
bad
, Anthony. I thought I was going to die.”

“I know, babe,” he said shaking his head, not knowing what to say,
so he didn’t, he just listened.

“My mind would come and go. One minute I felt my spine moving, the
next I could feel my teeth grow. When I stood up I was so hungry and so pissed
at your brother for taunting me that I wanted to kill him, but your sister shot
me in the chest with something that knocked me out until I woke up in that dirt
floored shed with my body so taped up, I couldn’t get out until I changed,” she
giggled, sniffling. “Wonder why they didn’t think about that? Anyway, I heard a
noise outside the door, so I dug my way out the side and went around, that’s
when I saw your sister hitting Kayla.”

“Defending the life of a fledgling is an outstanding trait in a new queen.
I’m proud of you, Sky.”

“I killed your sister, Anthony,” she replied, stopping to look him
in the eye.

“And she tried to kill you, as well as Kayla. Not to mention helping
Timothy—whom I killed—to harm the whole clan, our clan,” he retorted, then
grabbed her face and kissed her.
      

Sky embraced him running her hands up his back, while he in turn ran
his down hers. It was then they heard several people clearing their throats,
some in human form,
some
in wolf. Sky ended the kiss
and slid around Anthony’s nude body to hide hers, even though all of the humans
that walked up were just as nude, and all taking a knee. Kayla was the only
clothed person as she came running out of nowhere like a bat out of hell, carry
a blanket yelling, “
coming
through” and “excuse me”,
every step of the way. She did a half slide, half knee bend almost missing
Anthony altogether, before shooting right back up and darting behind him.

“I knew you might need this My Queen,” Kayla said, immediately going
down on one knee.

“Thank you, Kayla,” Sky replied, wrapping the blanket around
herself
without hesitation. “Please get up, that’s really
not necessary.”

“I’m afraid it is,” Anthony said moving back two steps, watching as
every man and wolf took a knee to his queen. “They see you as I see you.”

Anthony reached over and put his hand on the top of Kayla’s head,
and smiled. He ran his hand over the side of her cheek then under her chin
lifting it up just a bit,
then
winked. She got up with
a smile that out shined all the swelling and bruises that Tory had given as her
going away gift. Kayla knew the gesture that was just showed by her king, was
one of love and adoration. Sky stood back and talked with Kayla as Anthony
stepped to the side with a few of his enforcers.

“Stack got away, we found a tunnel down in his basement, if you can
call it that,” the older looking of the enforcers explained.

“What about the rest of Timothy’s men?”

“Four lost their lives as well as one of ours, Jay Gibbs. Three
surrendered, one of them already asking for leniency, swears he has information
about Timothy working with the…” the man paused paling just a bit.

“With the what, Martin?”
Anthony demanded knowing he was suddenly frightened to speak.