The Alpha King's Forest

Chapter 2: Shadow Warriors Pt.1

"A shadow?" I asked. He leans back and nods. Suddenly, his eyes glowed dark red. A red stream of smoke was erupting from his mouth. It was poisonous gas! Immediately, I levitated into the air to escape, but it was spreading rapidly. As I looked around, everyone was gasping for air, so I spotted Josie protected by my sister and used my power to purify the air. After that I heard a scream coming from the other side of the club. The man who approached me choked an older woman.

The smoke screen was just a distraction. I thought. I swoop down to attack, but a whip behind me pulls me back. I turned around and saw a woman wearing a black mask and holding a large whip in her hand. She pointed it at me and smirked. "Not so fast darling," she said. "I won't allow you to get near my brother." "We have business to attend to."

"Who the hell are you!" I roared. "Who we are doesn't matter," she replied. She attacked me with her whip but I dodged it and rushed in to make my own. She blocked my strike and pushed me back. I charged at her again, this time with more force. She parried my attack and I fell to the ground. "That's all you got?" she groaned. "No. I hope you push me down."I said. She attacked me again, this time with more force. As soon as she got close, she came down at me and was about to punch me when I rolled over and she slammed into the hole.

"You b***h!" She cried as she fell. I used my hands to close the hole. "Elisa, look out!" Veronica cried. Out of nowhere, there were a couple of people with black masks running towards me. Irritated, I flew again into the air and created a massive tornado to push them back. They ran back, scared. I smiled, pleased with my accomplishment. I landed next to Veronica and helped her to her feet.

"Are you OK?" I asked. "I'm fine but where's Nicole?" Veronica asked. That was a good question. I scanned the area and didn't see Nicole anywhere. I sent out a telepathic message to her, asking if she was alright. No response. I started to worry. "She has to be somewhere," Veronica said. She grabbed my hand and started looking around the VIP section. There were people passed out on the floor, and we found a woman who had been choked to death by the shadow man. It appeared that she was holding on to something. It was a yellow crystal.

"I'll take that crystal if you don't mind," the shadow man said. " Your little gust of wind couldn't save the broad, but that crystal belongs to me!" Veronica and I exchanged glances. We knew he had to be stopped. As Veronica was about to use her chaos magic, Darla stopped her. "Not here," she said. "Grab the crystal and hang on." I took Darla's hand while holding the crystal from the dead lady's hands.

The shadow man attacked again with his acid breath this time and Darla teleported us out before it could reach us. Her teleportation took us to the parking lot where Nicole and Josie were.Josie was unconscious and Nicole was trying to help her up. We quickly loaded Josie into the car and drove off. We were all relieved to escape with our lives. Darla got in the back with Nicole and Josie while I sat up front with Veronica. Darla and Nicole kept an eye on Josie while Veronica drove. We reached my apartment safely and carried Josie to the couch.

"Is the wound serious, Nicole?" I asked. Nicole took a look at Josie's body. It appears she was hit in the head. She was bleeding badly on the left side of her head and needed immediate treatment. Nicole got out of the way and let me use my powers to heal her. In order to discover who attacked the club, Veronica consulted the book of shadows. And what was the deal with this yellow crystal?

"Did that guy say anything to you when he spoke to you Elisa?" She asked. "The only thing he told me was that he was a shadow." I replied. "Try looking up a shadow man or something." Veronica sits over by the window at my writing desk with the book of shadows and flips through the pages. Darla was in my room on the phone but she came out and saw Veronica looking through the book. "That book won't help you," Darla said. "What do you mean? Do you know who attacked us?" I asked. Darla took a deep breath. "They're called shadow warriors."

****

"Yo Wyatt hurry up man!" Joey cried. We were headed back to the house but I had to stop and take a leak so I parked in front of an alley and got out to pee. While Joey wanted to get out of the car to stretch his legs, we heard screaming down the street. We both ran towards the sound and found a club covered in red smoke and people running out of it.

"It smells like poison." Balto, my wolf, said in my mind. That was the first time he talked to me tonight. His intuition told him to check it out. We cautiously approached the door and peeked inside. What we saw was horrifying. The floor was littered with people writhing in agony, their faces contorted. "What the hell happened?" Joey asked in a whisper. As we didn't want to alert anybody inside by talking too loudly, we left. We ran as fast as we could back to the car. And when we drove a safe distance away, we mind-linked the pack.

"Is anyone over on 25th Street right now?" I asked through the mind-link. "No my King but you and Joey need to come back quickly. Something has happened." Jasmine said through the mind-link. "We're on our way," I told her. Taking a few shortcuts downtown, I drove as fast as I could on the highway towards the manor. Then I got off the highway and went down a dirt road towards the forest. When we arrived, we could see a large plume of smoke rising in the distance. As we approached the manor, we saw that it was on fire. We rushed inside to find Jasmine.

"Jasmine!" I called out. The smoke was so thick that we could barely see, but we were determined to find Jasmine. Suddenly, we heard her faint voice coming from the back room. We rushed in to find her unharmed. "Get her outside!" I commanded Joey. "What about you?" Joey asked with Jasmine in his arms. "I'm going to put out the fire," I replied. "But get her out of here!" "This fire isn't normal!" "It's too dangerous!" Joey exclaimed. "We have to get out of here now!"

Joey ran out of the room with Jasmine. Balto sensed another person in the manor, but it wasn't anyone we knew. The person was walking through the flames with piercing red eyes when I arrived at the hallway near the deck. And had a wicked evil smile. "Who the hell are you?" I shouted. As they stepped closer that wicked smile turned into laughter. As much as Balto wanted to be let out, I was worried that letting him out would get us further in trouble.

"You've grown up so much my little prince." His voice was dark and sinister. It sent shivers down my spine. But I didn't let it get to me. He smiled. "You have something I want." "Give it to me." I know that voice. I thought. I have heard it somewhere before. But I couldn't figure out where. The more I looked at him, the more I realized I had seen him before. He was the man in my dream! "You're... the shadow man," I said. He smiled and nodded. "Yes, I am. Now give me the thing I want." I took a step back, my heart pounding. "No," I said firmly.He smiled, a cold, cruel smile. "You can't stop me. Give me what I want." I stood there, frozen in place, unable to respond.

Suddenly, I saw an arrow flying into his chest.