Coven of Wolves (31 page)

Slowly more possessed looking figures begin to appear all around us. More and more faces appear out of the darkness, turning their numbers into a small army. I don't recognize any of the newcomers. I take a closer look at them and can see that none of them are as physically well kept as the other coven members. Most of their teeth are worn and yellow, and the smell of defecation and urine are ingrained to their very being.

In my mind I can hear Fenrus say the word 'destitute'.

Horrified, I say, "Homeless people? You've sacrificed poor innocent lives just to have your petty revenge against us?"

In a monotone voice Malik says, "You'd be surprised what people will do for a little money and table scraps. As you can see, they were willing to sell their own souls."

The demon possessed beings snap their teeth at us and rake the air with their long, broken nails.

Tobias yells, "Those were innocent lives! You took advantage of them and broke every vow The Craft stands for!"

Filled with anger, Malik says, "And what about me? Huh? The three of you took advantage of everything I ever gave you! I gave you a life others could only dream of and you spit in my face! No, you will see that betrayal comes with a price. Before this night is through I'll have each of you begging for me to kill you."

One of the demon possessed beings lunges forward to attack us. The moment he steps into the clearing he triggers the magical properties of the items we left outside of our protection circle. The attacker's body immediately begins to disintegrate, leaving a misshapen ghostly form behind. Before the stunned demon can react, Tobias points two fingers at it and says in Latin, "Most unclean, return!" The demon screams and is sent upwards into the faint ripple hanging above us.

The other demons back away from the clearing, suddenly fearful that they too will meet the same fate.

Shouting, Malik says, "Fools! Don't fall for their simple traps. Demons, use your magic! You can't be hurt if you don't touch the ground!"

We look over to Zack, Cole and Kevin. Still grinning madly, they slowly rise into the air. Once they are a foot off the ground they slowly hover toward the circle. Seeing this, the other demon possessed beings follow suit. Knowing they can't break through the circle's magic as easily, they stop midway. They instead begin to drift around us in circles. Their movements are very unnerving and I can tell it's starting to affect Tobias and Luke.

"Don't break concentration.", I tell them. "They can't come through unless we let them."

Just then Malik steps out of the shadows. He is regally dressed in long red ceremonial robes. Unlike the others though, his facial features look exactly the same as always. I scan him magically and can't sense a trace of demonic aura from him. He smiles defiantly at us.

"You bastard!", Luke tells him. "You sacrificed the other's lives and you didn't even have the guts to be possessed yourself?"

Malik replies, "That's the difference between leaders and followers Luke. Leaders have to live on to spread their wise glory to others. Followers, on the other hand, are replaceable, and thus, expendable."

He then holds his hands in the air and begins chanting. Slowly one by one the magical items we scattered around the forest clearing catch fire and smolder into ash. Although our inner circle of protection is still active, the outside magical barrier disappears leaving the forest clearing now free for the demons to use.

Something doesn't seem right. I sense way too much mystical power coming from Malik. How can he disable our spell so easily?

Malik then tries to use the same trick on our protection circle. I hold Fenrus with one arm and hold Tobias' hand with the other. Tobias extends his free hand to Luke. He looks at it a moment, then takes it firmly. The four of us concentrate our power on the protection circle. Our power meets Malik's and a mystic clash occurs. If Malik were this strong and had I been alone as I was during our previous battles, Malik would have already broken through. Here with the others though, our combined might proves too much for Malik to take on single handedly. He withdraws his magic, yelling in defiance.

Angered, Malik says, "You're not the only one with numbers on their side. Demons! Destroy them!"

The various demon possessed bodies hovering around our circle each sends eldritch power at us with their hands. The protection circle immediately reacts, stopping the bolts from reaching us. Malik joins in with their magical barrage. The amount of energy hitting the circle causes the mystic sphere to waiver a bit. The four of us concentrate more of our energy into the protection circle's magic. It holds, but just barely.

Tobias then says to Malik, "We have a few friends of our own too."

From out of the fog, a wave of white light daggers fly at Malik, ripping through his robes and sending him screaming to the ground in agony. At the same time, three bolos fly through the air and pin three of the homeless attackers. They fall to the ground, unable to move their limbs. Damon, Gabriella and Nicholas then leap out of the shadows and sink their swords into the hearts of the now trapped demons. The homeless bodies disintegrate before our eyes, and as before, a misshapen ghost figure is left behind.

Mika steps out of the fog and repeats Tobias' earlier spell, saying "Plurimus immunda, reverto."

The demons scream, and fly upwards into the dimensional ripple. Mika then runs over to Damon's group, using her sword to strike at various demons along the way.

The look on Malik's face is livid. "Kill them all!"

The demons stop attacking our circle and instead focus their energies at Mika and the others. Mika holds her hand in front of her, creating a small shield of her own. The energy sent at her is easily deflected away. The wolves, however, allow the energy to hit them. They shift into their half wolf forms, allowing their natural immunity to magic to shrug off any effects the demonic magic has on them.

Luke shrouds Mika and the wolves in shadow, allowing them to be temporarily hidden from the demon's view. The demons stop their attack, unsure of where to direct their magics at next. Tobias seizes the opportunity and uses his nature magic to have several of the surrounding trees impale various demons with the sharp ends of their branches. More bodies disappear, allowing Tobias to send the now hostless demons back into the dimensional ripple.

The demon possessed Kevin sends a wall of flame at Luke's dark shrouds. Afraid my friends will be hurt, I shout, "Scatter!"

The four of them jump out of the darkness just in time as the fire wall engulfs the dark cloud, leaving a small pyre in it's wake. Gabriella reaches into a side pocket and pulls out a collapsible archery bow. She uses it to send two arrows at Kevin. He manages to deflect one arrow magically. The second strikes him in the shoulder, sending him falling to the ground. I will for fire to engulf Kevin, giving him a taste of his own medicine. The demon inside Kevin screams out in pain. Malik removes his now tattered red cloak and dramatically flings it at Kevin. The cloak takes on a life of it's own, covering Kevin and extinguishing the flames.

Seeing what has happened, Gabriella then separates her bow's handle, creating a make shift bolo. She throws it at a nearby demon. The weapon wraps around it, allowing Gabriella enough time to race over to it and slice the demon several times with her claws before it reduces itself to ash. The demon spirit left behind, angered, attempts to attack Gabriella out of revenge. Before it can reach her, I throw the remainder of my blessed powder at the demon, causing it to shriek in pain. I yell the words required to send the demon back to it's dimension, forcing my will outwards along with the words. The demon is immediately sucked into the ripple above.

When I turn around, I see Zack on the other side of the invisible protection wall leering at me. The cut I gave him under his eye is still present. His new demonic features surprises me profusely. I instinctively back up several steps, and out of the protection circle. I hear shrieking laughter. A pair of very powerful hands grabs me from behind, and suddenly I'm no longer touching ground. I hear Tobias yell my name.

Seeing what has happened, Fenrus leaps out of the protection circle as well and lands inside of me. I immediately feel my body begin to grow and change. I use my nails to rake against the hands holding me. The demon screams, and I feel myself falling downward. I look down and see I'm close to 20 feet in the air now. I position myself as quickly as I can and land on the ground with ease. Seeing I am now free from the protection circle, Zack attacks me repeatedly with his magics. The majority I am able to shrug off but I know that if he keeps it up, I could be in serious trouble. I grab his next bolt meant to kill me and shape the power in my hands, meaning to send it back at him. The power though is very dark and evil. I throw it to the ground instead, not wanting to hold onto it any longer. It lands on a broken tree log, leaving it black in color. Zack laughs in response.

I then hear my mother scream, "Devin! Behind you!"

I feel a demon slam into me from behind, sending me to the ground. The moment we land, the demon begins maniacally laughing and clawing into my back. I scream out in pain. I then hear a whack sound, stopping the attack. I turn around and see that my mother has a log in her hand and has used it to knock the demon off of me. By now the demon has already recovered and is ready to attack my mother.

"Mom! Run!", I yell. I try to move, but the magics laced in with the demon's claw marks make me wince in pain. Is this what the other werewolves felt after they received the same type of attack from me?

My father fortunately appears and slices the demon's head off with his sword. The head and body crumble to dust. As soon as I see the demon spirit left behind, I say, "Plurimus immunda, reverto." The demon screams and is sucked into the ripple above.

I stagger up, shifting back into my full human form. Fenrus lands at my side. I immediately deflect another energy attack and shout, "Someone, get my mother to safety!"

Instantly Tobias appears beside her and ushers my mother into the protection circle. He then forms a dome around my mother made of earth. Suddenly three earth pillars surface around the protection circle. A second later the pillars change shape and become rudimentary humanoid forms. Guarding the circle, the earth golems swing their large fists at any demonic beings near it. I can see my mother looking on at everything happening through the various cracks and fissures in the earth dome.

Teleporting back to me, Tobias says, "She should be safe in there."

I say to Tobias, "Thank you." He smiles back briefly before sending a deflection hex at a newly attacking demon.

Now back on his feet, Malik rejoins the fight with newfound vigor. Seeing that Tobias and I are now both outside of the circle, he sends a powerful wave of negative energy at us. Following Mika's example, we place our hands forward and concentrate on forming a shield large enough to block the magic from hitting us. Once the wave hits our shield the magic dissipates but the force of the blast knocks us backward.

Standing back up on our own two feet, I say to Tobias, "Where is he getting this level of strength from? He's never been this powerful before!"

From within the protection circle Luke shouts, "Look! There!"

We see that Luke is pointing towards Malik's chest. Sticking out of his remaining robes are several devotional amulets. They are easily recognizable. They're the same amulets that I've seen Zack, Cole and Kevin wear since the day I've met them.

Tobias says, "That's where he's getting his power from. After the others were possessed, he took their amulets and is using them to amplify his own gifts."

Angered by our discovery, he sends another powerful wave at Luke. The wave disintegrates one of the earth golems and finally causes the protection circle to collapse. My mother and Luke aren't affected as the circle took the full brunt of the attack, but they too are knocked backward from the force of the blast.

Seeing that he is now vulnerable, the demonically possessed Cole lunges at Luke. Just before they make contact, Luke disappears into darkness, leaving Cole on all fours on the ground. Luke then appears a few feet away from him, sending a pain hex at the demon. Cole convulses on the floor as Luke uses the sharp end of his cane to impale the demon. As opposed to the homeless people's bodies, Cole doesn't turn to ash. Instead his body starts to turn inward into itself until it resembles a withered husk. The demon inside the now dead form forces itself out, angered that it's once powerful host is now no longer available to it.

Luke says, "Plurimus immunda, reverto."

The demon screams as it flies upward.

Seeing a demon approaching behind Luke, Nicholas yells, "Look out!" Nicholas grabs a long reed from his pocket and holds it to his mouth. He blows a poisoned dart at the demon hovering toward Luke. Somehow the demon senses the projectile and stops it in midair. It then sends the poisoned dart back towards Nicholas. Just before it strikes, Tobias jumps in front of Nicholas and causes the dart to strike his own forearm. Tobias quickly removes the dart and casts it to the ground.

Nicholas says, "But..."

Tobias stops him from continuing his train of thought and says, "When I was treated, I was also given immunity to the poison. Consider it a thank you for saving Devin in the arena."

Nicholas humbly nods his head, then pushes Tobias aside, swiping his were-claw at the now oncoming demon. The two tumble on the ground raking each other with their claws. Nicholas soon after stands triumphant. Mika sees the demon left behind in the ash and sends it back into the ripple.

Mika then rejoins Damon, cornering the now burnt Kevin against a tree. Kevin flails his arm forward, sending foul magic toward them. Before it can strike them, Mika sends a barrage of white daggers into Kevin's energy. Once they collide, Mika's daggers explode outward. Her now white gas magics overtake Kevin's energies, sending it back towards him. He screams in fear, but it's too late. Once the energy hits him, he dies instantly. His withering husk falls to the base of the tree behind him. A few moments later a small imp-like creature emerges from his mouth.