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Chapter 18
publish date:
2020-11-13 02:46:05Chapter 18
>Ruins of Rose Manor. Night<
“You can call on such desperate creatures to assist you with your cause, although it won´t make any difference. You will discover that ultimately, I will prevail and death will be your reward.” Liam walks over to join Stella by her side.
“Liam, I know a part of you can still hear me. You must come back to us. I need you back.” “It´s futile, Laura. My dark magic is far more powerful that the call of the Alpha.” Dark magic. That´s the key. In that moment, I know what I have to do. Yet the question is how? Our innermost thoughts are shielded from Stella, but also from one another. I´m unable to communicate with my pack without Stella hearing out thoughts that are right on the surface. So whatever I have to do, i must do it on my own.
I turn to face my pack. “I´ve got this. Stand down.”
Liam charges at me and I attempt to evade him as best as I can. I block and dodge his punches. Then, once I see an opening, I put my arm around his neck, choking him. I hastily remove the amulet from around my neck. The amulet that Seven had given to me. The moment I place it around Liam, whatever hold Stella has on him instantly dissolves.
“What happened?” “Welcome back.” but Liam cannot hear me in his vampire form. I stop, staring at Liam´s wounded face. Liam turns to Stella, his face contorted with anger. “You´ll pay for what you did.” Liam shifts back into his werewolf form, joining our ranks. I step forward, at the vanguard of my pack. We´re complete once again. “That´s the final time you´re going to use my friends against me, witch. You manipulate people into doing terrible things for you. You prey on people´s thoughts and emotions, taking advantage of their weaknesses. I believe that´s because you´re weak yourself. That´s why you crave power. You are afraid. So afraid of death that you covet immortality. You have no one. And because of that, you are going to lose.” I want to slap the smirk off her face. “We´ll see about that.”
Stella raises her hands and a wall of fire emanates from the ground, encircling all of us and trapping us inside with her.
“Don´t be afraid. Believe in yourselves, in each other. We can do this. Together.”
I take the lead and rush towards Stella, who releases a sphere of what appears to be lightning at me. I catch the sphere in my mouth, exactly like what I did with my mother´s energy ball previously. Wrong move. The sphere explodes in my face, electrocuting me in the process. It´s unlike what my mother had utilized against me. I fall to the ground, although rapidly recover. The pack has spread out.
Lucas and Amelia are about to attack from either side, as Nolan and Liam leap over me to take Stella head on. Patrick has circled the area to assail Stella from the rear.
The pack converges upon Stella, however the witch brings her fist down onto the ground and releases a shockwave of dark energy. The shockwave´s force sends them all flying in every direction. I brace myself, raising a protective arm before me. I manage to withstand it. The rest of the pack aren´t so fortunate. Patrick has been thrown into the wall of fire and has been scorched by the flames. Amelia and Lucas are thrown to the ground, unconscious. Nolan and Liam have stumbled backwards, dazed by the impact.
“Luc! Amelia!” There´s no response. “Patrick, are you all right?” “I´ll live.” I turn to Liam´s and Nolan´s side. “I´m okay.” “We must be extra careful. We possess no knowledge of the complete extent of her magical capabilities.”
Stella moves forward. “Let me offer you a demonstration.” Stella closes her hands into fists, and the debris surrounding her on the ground lifts into mid-air. When she opens her hands, the pieces of stone and broken wood hovering around her shoot at us as if they´re bullets. Liam and Nolan try their utmost to evade to projectiles, yet to no avail.
All the while, I attempt to evade them, however it´s no use. Once the attack finally ends, I brush off the splinters and rocks that have embedded themselves into my fur. Bloodied and wounded, I attempt to maintain a tone of confidence. “Is that all you got?” My wounds begin healing. “Oh, I´m just getting started.”
Suddenly, I spot Patrick lunge for Stella from behind her. Without even looking, Stella flicks her hand and sends Patrick hurtling into Lucas, who has just come around.
“Guys, we need to regroup. Amelia!” Amelia regains consciousness and climbs to her feet. But Stella then levels her hand at Amelia. A strong wind picks up around Stella, rapidly forming into a small tornado. Amelia is being suffocated.
“Mely!” Lucas is swift to act, attacking Stella by biting her in the arm. In the following instant, Liam, Patrick and Nolan are upon her as well, their jaws finding purchase on Stella´s flesh. I somersault into the air and land on Stella´s shoulder, sinking my claws into her eyes and blinding her. Stella relinquishing control of the tornado in order to defend herself. Stella summons lightning from the heavens and strikes herself, with the impact throwing us all away from her. “Imbecile!” Stella´s wound heal rapidly. Her eyes return to normal, although her face is now a mask of her own blood. She looks more sinister than previously, her appearance finally matching what´s underneath.
Infuriated, Stella releases a barrage of smaller dark energy spheres. Lucas and Amelia are hit and they both go down, reverting into their human form. Liam manages to push Patrick out of the way of an incoming destructive orb. They both roll onto the ground although they are eventually hit, which severely weakens them. Nolan, swift as ever, dodges all of the spheres that are thrown his way. While being able to block the attack, I am also capable of withstanding the orbs that hit me. Because they are smaller in size, the spheres aren´t as potent as the ones thrown at us before.
I look around at my allies. We are being overwhelmed. Stella may be outnumbered, yet she is proving to be a rather formidable adversary. She moves towards me with murderous intent. Her fists are glowing as she knocks me to the ground with a single punch. I stare at her in shock. She must be concentrating all her powers in her fists.
“I have decimated an entire line of werewolves.” I collapse under the strength of her fists as she perseveres in pounding me. “Did you really believe that the force of one insignificant pack can overpower me?” Patrick, still weak from the hit he sustained a moment ago, attempts to stop Stella. Yet she simply knocks him out. However, I manage to scurry away and climb to my feet. Weakened, I pant heavily as Stella comes for me. “I´m growing tired of this. It´s time I give you your reward, First Wolf.” Stella holds out her hand. Rocks and soil float into the air, converging on her hand and forming a sword compromised of earth. She drives the sword towards my heart. The next thing I know, I am stumbling backwards as Nolan puts himself in my place, taking the earthen blade through his chest. “Nolan!” Nolan collapses to the ground, and I rush to his side as he returns to his human form. “Oh, god! Nolan!”
Suddenly, Liam comes up from behind Stella and bites into her shoulders. Stella shoves him off of her, turning around and grabbing him by the throat. “You insignificant fool! I am immune to your bite, you mongrel. Why do you persist?” Stella appears to tighten her grip on Liam´s throat, as he starts choking. “I am an immortal witch. You cannot kill me.” “I know. But she can.” My snout has snapped into Stella´s neck before she can even react, sinking my razor-sharp teeth into her flesh. Stella screams in agony as I bite down hard, making contact with the bones in her neck. I feel the rage boiling up within me. A beast wants to be unleashed from its cage. This woman had my parents killed. She´s the reason I never got to know them. Then Robert, Cynthia, Mom. They´re all dead because of her machinations. Now, Nolan. It ends now.
Tapping into the reservoir of strength deep inside me, I rip Stella´s head from her neck. We are plunged into darkness as the wall of fire disappears. Stella no longer exists. “You did it, Laura.” I shed my wolf form and revert back to being human. I turn towards Liam, wrapping my arms around him. “It´s over. It´s finally over.”
“A little help please.” I turn to Nolan´s supine form in shock. “Nolan!” I rush to his side, where the earthen sword has already crumbled. “You´re alive!” In my excitement, I throw my arms around him. He grunts with pain. “Easy, little wolf. I just got stabbed by a witchy sword.” I laugh, tears welling up in my eyes. “Sorry.” I am so relieved that he´s all right. “So, I guess we won.”
“Laura.” Patrick, who is also now in his human form, walks towards me. “Patrick. Thank god. I thought you were toast.” Patrick smiles. “I´m singed here and there, however it´s nothing my werewolf genes won´t heal.” “That´s good to hear, I guess.”
Amelia, who has regained consciousness, walks over to us with the assistance from Lucas, as her ankle twisted at a weird angle. “Amelia. Your foot.” “Don´t worry about it. I only need to reset the bone. Just give me a few moments.” I stand there, inspecting Amelia´s injury. “It´s nothing serious. You´ll be fine.”
I then catch a glimpse of Lucas walking alongside Liam, who´s apparently woken him. Lucas halts in his tracks as he gazes at Stella´s head, laying a few feet from her body. “Are we sure that she´s dead? She´s not immortal like a Death Becomes Her kind of things, is she?” “I´m pretty sure she´s dead.” I punch Lucas playfully. “You had me worried for a second there.” “Well, I can´t believe we won. It´s finally over.”
Is it? I turn around, feeling its eyes all upon me. A familiar presence. I search for it, until it emerges from within the shadows.
The grey wolf with the white crescent on its forehead.
(Lucas) “Who is that?” (Liam) “He has no scent.” “Wait.” Nolan appears to recognize him, although then he shakes his head. “He seems familiar, yet he´s different. It can´t be him.”
(Patrick) “Who is that, Laura? Do you know that werewolf?” “Sort of. He´s the one who triggered my first transformation.” I step forward. “Who are you? Why are you here?” The grey wolf approaches us, slowly transforming into a human. We are all shocked to see who it is.
(Lucas) “Jack?” It is indeed Jack. The one who trained the Knoxes. The man they call Old Man Lobo. (Liam) “What´s going on, Jack?” (Lucas) “You´re the one who triggered Lauras first transformation.” Jack stops in front of us. “Let me explain. I don´t have much time, so you better listen carefully.” Jack´s face has darkened. “You´ve been fooled, all of you. Everything that´s happened has been set in motion by none other than Old Mia. She´s manipulation everything. I am bound to the oracle because of a debt I owe her. Therefore, she appointed me to do her bidding.”
(Nolan) “The mark on your forehead. I´ve seen that before when I was in the Citadel.” “It´s the mark she left on my wolf form when she anointed me.”
(Lucas) “So you mean to say that the leader of the oracles commanded you to trigger Laura´s transformation?”
(Laura) “Why?” “Because she wanted you to defeat Stella.” Nolan looks confused. “I don´t see anything wrong with that. Stella had to be defeated because she became too powerful, and she became a threat to our world.” “Buts it´s wrong when it´s the leader of the oracles herself who put Stella in power in the first place. I´ve been gone for years because I wanted to understand more about the history of the oracles. So I travelled far and wide to study them. During my peregrination, I came across a tomb that mentions the existence of the Forbidden Prophecies. These are prophecies that must not be divulged to an individual, because it may drastically alter the course of history, of the future. Old Mia revealed a Forbidden Prophecy to Stella.” ”The prophecy concerning the descendant of the First Wolf.” “This prophecy compelled Stella to almost wipe out the entire line of the First Wolf.” ”She instigated the Secret War during the process.” (Amelia) “This is what I´ve been fearful of all this time. These oracles have gone from providing guidance through their visions, to manipulate the future for their own purposes.” “I don´t know what Old Mia´s endgame is, however it has to stop. Laura, you´re the only one powerful enough who can put an end to it.”
“So, all this. Everything that has happened, these deaths throughout the years, they occurred because Old Mia set everything in motion.” Jack nods. “She´s been using you. She´s been using all of us. I apologize that I couldn´t tell you sooner. Yet the oracle´s eyes are always upon me. Except for tonight. The oracles are blinded by the Blood Moon. However, it won´t last long. You must act now.”
(Nolan) “But we have no way of reaching the Citadel. It´s only accessible through teleportation.”
Jack hands me a black stone. “I use this whenever Old Mia summons me. You can use this too, although you can only bring one another person with you. Call on its power and picture in your mind where you want to travel to.”
I turn to Nolan. He´s the one who knows the oracles more than anyone else in the pack. “Will you come with me?” “I will.”
I turn to Amelia. “You´re right. I can´t allow anyone to push me down a path that I don´t want to take. It´s time I take back control of my life. Of our lives.” (Lucas) “Be careful, Laura.” I glance towards my mom´s lifeless body. “Don´t worry about your mom´s body. We´ll take care of things. Then we´ll dispose the rest and we´ll meet you back at the manor.” “Thank you, Luc.”
I turn to Patrick. “I´ll be waiting for you.” Liam looks at Nolan. “Take care of her.”
I take Nolan´s hand and close my eyes, picturing the citadel in my mind as I invoke the stone´s power. I perceive a flash of light against my eyelids and there is a gust of wind.
>Citadel. Interior. Night<
Upon opening my eyes again, I find myself standing withing the Citadel´s interior, with Nolan right beside me. We walk down the aisle leading up to the raised dais where Old Mia´s chair is set. I should have recognized that it´s a throne. It appears that it is her will that has been ruling over us all this time.
Old Mia doesn´t even flinch when she sees us. “I can´t say that I wasn´t expecting you. What kind of oracle would I bee then?” A smile plays across Old Mia´s lips.
“What kind of oracle are you, Old Mia?” “I would say, the kind who has an eye for the bigger picture.” “Why would you do it? What did you hope to achieve by setting these events in motion?” Old Mia isn´t even surprised to hear that I know she´s behind everything. She doesn´t need the foresight to discover it. “Balance. Control. I couldn´t allow Stella to become too powerful. She became too great a threat, which is why I had to awaken you in order for you to stop her.” “Yet is was you who drove her to become a threat to all of us. She was on that path because you revealed a Forbidden Prophecy to her.” “It was also essential to eliminate the line of the First Wolf.” I am shocked to hear what she has just said. So she´s the reason why my entire family was wiped out. “They were a clan that was becoming excessively powerful back in those days. I simply could not permit that.” “So, you are no better than Stella. You manipulate people for your own dark purpose.” “I don´t expect you to understand. After all, you are insignificant in the grander scheme of events. There was a time when oracles like me were revered as Gods. We are the first children of Magic; our sight transcends time and space. Our words were gospel. But then, Magic gave birth to a host of other beings. Witches, vampires, werewolves. A horde of erratic creatures constantly warring among themselves, tipping the scales of power occasionally. And we oracles were relegated to cleaning up their mess. I grew weary of the status quo. An oracle is supposed to be a guide. But no, I came to feel like a nanny watching over a bunch of impetuous children. Therefore, I had to act. I decided that I could no longer act simply as a guide. I possess knowledge of the future and I discovered that I could shape it to my desire. With just a little push in the right direction, a few whispers in the dark. In my mind I have designed a future for all of us, where the oracles control everything. And I, as their leader, shall wield that power with my discretion. That future is now imminent. The werewolves are no more. The witches have deteriorated over the years. While the vampire clans are mostly fractured. This is the time of the oracles.”
“I won´t allow you to rule over all of us. We possess freewill. We are in control of our actions.” “Are you? Or is it merely an illusion that you are standing here of your own volition rather than by my design?” Old Mia´s eyes flick to Nolan, as if finally acknowledging his presence. “Take Nolan for example. Do you believe he would be here if I had not told him that he´s destined to be your protector? Do you think that he would place himself at the wrong end of a sword if he didn´t believe the prophecy that I revealed to him?” “So it was all a lie?” Noland whispered. “Lie or not. You fulfilled what I told you to do. Who´s say that what I told you is untrue? I am an oracle after all.” “Whatever influence you have over all of us, it ends now. You are the reason why I no longer have a family.” The rage I feel begins to intensify, threatening to consume me. “You´re responsible for the death of hundreds of people, including people who I love.” As I move towards her, I feel this power coursing through me. “Your time ends now, oracle.” I look at my hands and I witness a red aura enveloping me. What is this? “It can´t be. You are blessed by the Blood Moon. Stay back! Don´t come any closer.” Old Mia shoots a fireball from out of her staff, which misses my foot by only a few inches. It doesn´t faze me. I feel invincible, and I walk on towards the dais.
“The Blood Moon robs the oracles of their foresight, Laura. Perhaps you can take away her foresight permanently.” “I can´t allow you to do that.” Old Mia shoots another fireball at us, which I catch in one hand. Whatever power I receive from the Blood Moon has become concentrated in my hands.
I act instinctively; the next thing I know, I am up on the dais in front of Old Mia. I grab her head and press my thumbs into her eyes, blinding her. Old Mia screams out in pain, as blood gushes from her eyes. I release my grip on her head and the old crone collapses to the floor, thrashing around violently. I turn my back on her and move to join Nolan. “I am no angel. I´m a werewolf.”
>Knox Manor. Gardens. Night<
Nolan and I appear in the gardens of Knox Manor. I feel a sense of relief to have returned and, at the same time, I am excited to share our triumph over Old Mia with the pack.
“They´re waiting for us inside.” “Laura, wait.” Nolan grabs me gently by the arm as I walk past him. “Nola, we must go back inside.” “I´m not going back in there. I have a feeling about how this is going to end, so I´m leaving.” I just stand there, staring at Nolan. He placed a gentle kiss on my lips. “I am not going back in there with you, Laura. This is as far as I go. However, if you decide that you want to be with me. Then meet me at my secret place.” With that, Nolan runs away, leaving me behind. I touch my lips as Nolan disappears in the woods.
>Knox Manor. Living room. Night<
I enter the living room of Knox Manor, where the remainder of the pack, including Old Man Lobo, awaits.
“Laura!” Patrick looks relieved to see me. I give him a weak smile. "“Laura, what happened? Where´s Nolan?” I can hear the concern in Lucas´s voice. “He´s just going through something. But he´s all right.” Lucas heaves a sigh of relief. “I´m unable to say the same thing for Old Mia, though.” “Is she dead?” “No, Jack. Having killed Stella, I couldn´t find it in me to kill Old Mia. The deaths have got to stop at some point, and I chose to end it with Stella. So I blinded Old Mia.” (Amelia) “How did you manage that?” “Something happened to me during the Blood Moon. Somehow, it imbued me with its power. A power which is detrimental to the oracles. That´s how I was able to blind Old Mia. Now we can rest assured that the choices we make from this point on will be our own. There´s nobody pulling the strings anymore.”
I look around at each of their faces. “I know that we should celebrate our victory. However, we´ve lost so many lives along the way. I don´t even know how to begin grieving. All I know is, I´m done. I´m done being afraid. Afraid of the past, afraid of the future. I´m done being averse to making decisions. I´ve learned the difficult way that it´s the choices that we avoid making that leave us vulnerable to manipulation. And there is one decision that I want to make now that will help shape my own future. I want to choose a mate.
