Cry of the Wolf (7 page)

Chris notices that I am shaking. Fear is
starting to overtake me. This situation frightens me. The one
person I hoped to never see again is here, now.

“Des, it’s going to be okay,” he tells me as
he wraps his big, muscled arms around me.

Michelle helps shoot my thoughts into Chris’
head.

- Thanks, I just don’t want to be the bait.
-

“I know, darling that you don’t.” Chris says
as he kisses my forehead. “But you even said that it is you Szin
wants. And that is why we are using you as bait.”

- I know. But that doesn’t make it any
less scary.-
I look up into my hubby’s eyes.

“I know, baby. I know.” He says looking down
into my eyes. “I’m scared, too. Afraid of this going wrong. But
let’s hope for the best, okay?”

-Okay.-
I respond as little Michelle
walks up to me.

“It’s time, Destiny.” She says with a little
fear in her own voice.

-Alright, be right there, Michelle.-
I
say over our link to Michelle. She, then, turns away for a second.
-Gotta go, honey.-

“Good luck,” he says and, then, kisses me
passionately on the lips for about a minute. We, then, separate our
lips and I begin to head towards Michelle to collect my katana.
“Good luck.”

-Thanks.-

Cameron in his wolf form walks over to
Michelle and I. Using his nose, Cameron motions for us to follow
him. Carefully, Cameron, Michelle, and I make our way towards the
pool house on the property. We stop a few feet from the pool house
behind a tree. We look around the tree and spot several of the
Crimson Clan’s scouts roaming back and forth. They are carrying
rifles, look to be M-16s.
Great
.

Within a couple of minutes we spot a small
gap in their patrol. Quickly, the three of us make our way over to
the pool house. We find a door and make our way inside through a
back door. As we enter the pool house, we look around. I unsheathe
my katana and continue to slowly move into the living room followed
by Cameron and Michelle.

-
There’s a problem, Destiny. –
Michelle tells me using our telepathic link.

-
I know. It’s too quiet in here. They
must be in the main house. –
I say telepathically as I see
Cameron move towards the kitchen. I look a t Michelle and we nod
our heads. Quickly, we find that Cameron is stopped in front of a
door beyond the main kitchen. Michelle carefully opens the door
using powers I did not know of her having, telekinesis. Just beyond
the door is a set of stairs that descend into the dark.

I sheathe my katana and remove my palm-sized
flashlight from a pocket. I lead us slowly down the stairwell
shining the light ahead of us. As we near the bottom of the
stairwell, I hear muffled sounds of voices. I recognize one of
them. The voice I hoped to never hear again. Lord Szin.

We sit and listen carefully.

“Is everything ready, General Marcus?” the
dark lord says.

“Yes, my lord,” the vampire says to Szin. “We
even have word from a scout that those pesky PIs and the rest of
the Harrison pack are near.”

“Good.” Says Szin with pleasure in his
voice.

I gulp. Great I thought we would get here
unnoticed.

-
Michelle
. - I whisper to her.
-
Send a message to Sandy and tell her to warn the others that they
know we’re here.
-

Michelle nods in agreement. Then, I hear his
voice again.

“Did you hear that faint sound, Marcus?”

“Sorry, sir,” he apologizes. “My hearing is
not as acute as yours.”

“That’s okay. Time to draw our prey out of
hiding.” He says rather enthusiastically.

Great.

- It’s done, Destiny. -

- Thanks, Michelle. Time to expose
ourselves. –

Fear runs through every inch of my body as we
leave our hiding place come around the corner.

-
Ready when you are. –

- Thanks. –
I say to Michelle and stop
a moment to collect my thoughts. I am
so
not ready for this.
But it is time for us to start our plan before it all goes up in
smoke.

We finish descending the stairs and round the
corner. We all head down are dimly lit corridor. It seems to be
devoid of people.
Where are those voices I heard?

I draw forth my katana and prepare for a
fight. Then, I hear the cocking of several rifles around us. But I
cannot place it. Cameron begins to growl. He smells the vampires. I
see his eyes looking up at the roof in fierce determination.
Michelle and I both follow his eyes and see them.

Quickly, we turn and run back towards the
stairwell from which we came.

-
Sandy, tell Brandon the time to move is
now.-

- I will do that, Des.-

- Thanks, sis.-

-You’re welcome.-

Rapidly, we start to ascend the stairs. Atop
the stairs are two of the Elite Guard of the Crimson Clan. We dive
out of the way as bullets begin to reign down on our position. I
land badly on my shoulder and nearly get clipped by a bullet.
Cameron uses his huge teeth to help pull me out of the way. In the
process I drop my katana and it skids across the room.

One of the vampires chasing us picks up the
katana and is spiked with wooden shards. He turns to dust and drops
his rifle. Quickly, Michelle uses her powers to bring the gun and
my katana back towards us.

The two vampires atop the stairwell are now
descending as I pick up my katana. We are trapped between the ones
chasing us and the ones that descend the stairs.

That’s when I feel it. The fire in me begins
to burn. Michelle and Cameron step back as far as they can from me
as I start to become engulfed by flames. However, my clothes are
not touched by the flames. The vampires feel the backlash from the
flames and begin to turn into ash. As soon as our pursuers are
destroyed, the flames disburse and I fall to the ground on my
knees.

I desperately try to regain my breath before
we move on down the corridor. Using the katana as a crutch, I make
it back onto my feet. I feel a little groggy. That takes a lot of
energy out of me. I shake my head trying to regain my senses.

“That’s so awesome, I don’t think I will ever
tire of seeing it,” Michelle softly says to me.

“Thanks,” I say still breathing pretty
hard.

Cameron, then, begins to head down the hall.
Something about this seems too easy for us right now. We continue
on down the corridor. My head starts to hurt as I receive a
telepathic message from Sandy.

-
What did you just do, Des? The vampires
are all riled up. –

- My phoenix fire thing. -

- Then, these vampires must be bonded to one
another on a hive mentality. –

- Why do you say that, sis? –

- Because there are…Oh, no! Chris! –

Chris. Hurt? No!
My heart sinks like a
rock. I fear something is terribly wrong.

1:45 AM

CAMERON, Michelle, and I continue on down the
corridor to a dead end with a door to our left and one to our
right. I hear muffled sounds coming from the door to the right.
Cameron walks up to the door. He sniffs the door and nods his
head.

Slowly, we open the plain white door and
enter. At first, I am thinking this is going to be a small room.
Instead we walk into a large chamber with two cages high above us.
There we see Devon and Kelly in their werebeast forms frothing at
the mouth ready for a fight. Michelle and I are led by Cameron over
to a control device to release them, which is on the other side
past the cages.

The cages are lowered when we see vampires
starting to enter the room from beyond us to our right. But not
very many are left at the moment. A vampire wearing a crimson
colored beret and a black sweater with red lapels over black boots,
black pants, and black body armor, is forced into the room by
Brandon, who is holding his modified M-5 with wooden tipped
bullets.

“You will not get away with this.” He
states.

I start to feel anger towards him but there
is not enough left in me tonight for the fire to burn him out. I
walk over to him with my katana in hand as the cages continue to
lower to the ground. I hear a thud and a clanking of the two chains
as I reach the general.

“What happened to the pack you were working
with?” I ask with anger in my eyes.

“They’re gone, you’ll never find them,” he
smugly states. “My master has big plans for you, Ms. Phoenix. Soon
you will willingly give yourself to him to save your friends.”

Unwilling to hear another word of what he has
to say, I turn and decapitate him in one swift motion. The body
quickly becomes dust. I sheath my katana and head back towards a
horrified Michelle as the locking mechanism on the cages open.
Devon and Kelly barely manage to squeeze through the doors of the
cages. They, then, collapse. Bandon starts to walk up to me when a
bright light starts coming from my skin.

Oh no! Not now!

We, then, disappear.

2:20 AM

BRANDON, Devon, Kelly, Michelle, and I
reappear several minutes later in the field where a major fight had
taken place only moments before. I immediately look around; two
more of Devon’s pack ha
ve
been killed. I
see Sandy on the ground near Chris. Quickly, I rush over to
him.

-What happened?-
I ask Sandy as tears
rolls down her eyes.

“I-I don’t know what to do. My healing powers
can’t stop the pain.” She says as her lips quiver. She dives into
my arms and cries into my bloody shirt. “I’m sorry, Des.”

“Sandy, he’s not dying,” I hear a deep
guttural voice say. I realize, instantly, that it is Devon
speaking. “But he is in a lot pain. He is changing.”

I turn and look at Devon as he kneels in his
weakened werebeast form.

“What are you saying?” I hear Michelle
say.

“His injury is slowly healing on its own,”
Devon says. “But it is because of his new powers.”

“What new powers?”

“At every full moon he will change against
his will, initially.”

“No! He’s not…” Michelle says for me relaying
a sad denial in my voice as I finally realize what it is that Devon
is telling me.

“Yes, he is.”

I do not want to hear what Devon is say, but
I know I must. For life has just changed for everyone in this
group. Several on this mission have gained new powers. I am able to
teleport, but without any control that I know of. Sandy now is able
to heal people. And Chris, dare I even admit this, is a
werewolf.

Life is now going to be more complicated.

After a few moments of gaining our composure,
we all start to head towards the vehicles waiting for us on the
other side of the hills. Devon carries Chris limply in his arms as
we continue our trek. With Devon’s help, Brandon gets Chris
strapped into the backseat of the Traverse to be saddled between
Sandy and I. Leaving Michelle to sit in the front passenger’s seat
of the SUV. She is beaming.

Then, Devon heads over to the forest to join
his wife and the rest of their pack. Quickly, Brandon, Sandy,
Michelle, and I bring their clothes to them. I try not to look at
their naked bodies. This is when we notice who the victims of the
fight were. Unfortunately, Lester Harrison did not survive. A sad
look comes across the face of Devon as they all dress into the
clothes.

“Sorry, Devon,” Michelle says for as I see
him hanging his head with Kelly’s arm wrapped around him.

“So, he did come,” Devon sadly asks.

“Yes, he did. He led the charge to come and
get you to bring you back to your children.” Brandon tells him. “By
the way, they’re cute.”

“Thank you,” Kelly says as she tries comfort
Devon.

“There were times I hated the man,” Devon
says with heavy heart. “But he was my father. I will miss him.”

“Of course, you will, honey,” Kelly remarks
as they get into the passenger van with the others from the pack.
“Destiny, you all need to follow us back to the house. There’s
something we need to discuss with you. Things you need to know
about your husband’s new life.”

I nod as I get into the Traverse. I sit next
to Chris and hold onto him as the engine starts. I am so tired that
I instantly dose off as we begin our trek back. My jaw is still
hurting intensely.

10:35 AM

WE ARE packing at the hotel after spending
some time over at the Harrison’s home. Chris is still in bad shape.
I have to pack both our bags. Chris sits in the chair by the table.
He looks pale. I finish packing our bags as quickly as possible.
Then, I walk over to Chris and kneel at his feet.

“You okay?” I ask Chris as he runs his
fingers through his hair.

“How am I going to be okay?” he says with
fear in his voice as tears rolls down his cheeks.

“I know that you are going to change on the
full moon, honey,” I tell him looking up into his saddened eyes.
“You and I will get through this. I love you, baby.”

“But I don’t know how to control this and the
full moon is nearly upon us.”

“While you were out last night, Devon told me
that you won’t change this month since you are not completely
healed.”

“I don’t want this, darling,” he tells me.
“I’m afraid of hurting people, Des. Especially, you.”

A tear rolls down my cheek and I hug him. He
winces a little in pain. I ease a little off.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay, darling.”

Then, a knock comes on the door.

“It’s open,” I say aloud.

Sandy and Michelle come bounding into the
room. They still look rather ragged as we all do. The last
twenty-four hours have been eventful and full of nightmares. Sandy
sees the tiredness and the worry in my eyes. She walks up to me and
hugs me. Sandy tries to comfort me as Michelle tries to comfort
Chris.