Shadows of the pack

Chapter Five – The Shinto onis are back: Part 2

Sebastian’s POV

They were back again, but this time around, they had me cornered; Cain wasn’t here to help me. I felt a burst of adrenaline, something that seemed to be coming from the bright light above my head. Of course, it was the moon; the full moon was out. I was angry I got cornered but also happy that I got a renewed sense of survival because of the full moon. I could almost swear the moon goddess was watching over us, both me and my wolf, in that moment to make sure we survived the fight with the Shinto Onis. They moved closer to me as my wolf growled louder at them; we couldn’t afford their dark flaming sword touching us because it would be severe, especially because it was also made of silver. We launched ourselves forward, tearing through the skull of one of the Oni soldiers with our inch-long fangs; it had dark blood with a taste as bitter as bile. My wolf scowled in utter disgust at the taste.

Crushing its skull underneath our jaw, we finished another Oni soldier in a single bite that tore off its head from the body. My wolf was at full strength, and I was certain we could take them all if we could just avoid their swords. We looked around, counting their numbers and growling at them. Our deep red eyes would have scared any ordinary human or wolf, but the Oni soldiers were not at all scared but kept moving towards me in an attempt to stab me with their silver swords and daggers.

There were too many in number, so I tried summoning wolves around the forest, but there seemed to be none. It dawned on me then that I was really alone, and I had to go all in, so I began pouncing on the Onis, slashing and biting through them one after the other before they could strike me with their swords. I had to go for their head and throat, ending them within a minute. One thing I had come to realize was that the Shinto Onis healed faster than any werewolf; they would be back up in seconds if I didn’t end them in one move, thus making them a formidable foe.

I kept cutting through them using my fangs and demonic speed. At one point, I felt like my wolf form was not enough; I had to fight alongside him, so I leaped up onto a tree and began transforming back to my human form but only got halfway through, now having my upper body being human, still blazing with red eyes and claws bursting through my fingertips, each one sharp as a blade. My lower body was in the form of my wolf, as though I were standing on my hind legs in wolf form; this way I could fight better and rip through the enemies faster.

I leaped down towards one of the soldiers, aiming for his neck, but he ducked. Landing on my feet and standing twice as tall as my normal height, I couldn’t waste time, so I swiped my claws at him, which cut his face, but that didn’t do much damage since he would just heal back in a matter of seconds, so I sped and grabbed him by his neck, almost snapping it, and reached out my other hand into his chest and ripped out what I thought would be a heart, but it wasn’t; that ends him anyway. I couldn’t afford to start thinking about the dark, meaty-like organ I just pulled out. I kept tearing through them, reaching out for their throats and limbs, ripping them out in split seconds, and the ones I could, I swiped my claws from their shoulders to their stomach region in a parallel line, opening the stomach and pulling out their dark intestines. There seemed to be one of the soldiers who only watched as I fought the rest of them till the end. I looked over at him, bracing myself to go for his head and be done with them once and for all, or at least for tonight, but as I took off, and before I could get to him, he disappeared into thin air, giving me a scoffing look before he disappeared.

I looked around me to make sure I had put an end to the existence of the Oni soldiers that attacked me, but I couldn’t find any of their corpses; their bodies had vanished, but it wasn’t unusual. The moon was still shining bright above my head, and I was already exhausted, so I walked to the place I had hung my clothes earlier to get dressed and leave the forest. I transformed back into my human form and began to head back to the inn. I was able to find my way back through the forest till I got outside of it since the moon was still out and shining.

I headed back to the inn, making my way to our room as I felt like I was about to black out. This was unusual for me, especially on a full moon night. Even though I was exhausted from the fight, I shouldn’t feel drained; this had never happened before.

Once I managed to get back to the room, I heard voices that sounded like moans coming out of the room we were given earlier, and this made me wonder what could be going on.

I opened the door only to see Cain having an intimate session with the beautiful blonde from earlier. Only that she wasn’t so beautiful to me anymore; she was on top of Cain, riding him so fast and moaning so loud with no care that anyone could be hearing them. Such debauchery! I thought.

I moved inside the room, almost crashing on the ground weakly, Cain! I groaned. Just then I noticed a wound on the side of my stomach as I looked down my body towards where I was feeling pain. I had been cut by the silver sword of the Oni soldiers, and I wasn’t healing. “Help me, Cain, I think I’ve been poisoned!” I said, and the light dimmed out of my eyes.

Cain’s POV

Sebastian came into the room looking rough. f**k Sebastian!! I had just been able to charm this lady to bed, and it took so much effort from me; you’re not about to take this fun away from me, I thought to myself.

Even if he was going to stay, I would finish up with the lady. He called out to me, making me even more angry than I already was, but he sounded different. Did I not just hear Sebastian say he had been poisoned? I jumped off the bed, pushing the lady off, now looking towards the fallen body of Sebastian.

I kept calling out to him, but he was out cold as ice. I looked at his wound, and it does seem like he had been poisoned. But by whom? I thought. I opened up his clothes and saw the cut and strains of his veins popping out dark; the poison was already spreading, but I had no remedy for this. Melissa, having dressed up, came close to check what was going on, and upon inspecting the wound, she gulped her own spit, looking as if she knew what had happened. I looked at her and asked what was going on, but instead of telling me what the problem was, she insisted that we had to take him to someone she knew who could help us. I had no choice but to follow her if I wanted Seb to survive or at least find a cure for the poison.

I carried and hung his body on the right side of my shoulder. Sebastian had so much weight, but I could still carry him to the horse stable so we could get moving from there. By the time we got to the lower part of the inn where people were dining, everyone was already staring at us, curious to know what had happened to the man I carried on my shoulder.

We got to the place that turned out to be a small cottage around the river area of the village on horseback. I brought Sebastian down from the horse and followed Melissa, carrying him.

Melissa opened the door without knocking, as if she were the owner or she stayed there, but I couldn’t care less.

An old lady came out of the inner room, shocked to see Mellisa and me with the body I was carrying. She pulled Melissa into a warm embrace while asking her what the problem was.

While they did that, I dropped Sebastian on the floorboard, tearing open his clothes to show her what the issue was while Melissa tried to explain to her in words.

Immediately after she examined his wound, she stood up, shocked also, having the same look that Melissa had earlier, and then she went outside hurriedly. I followed her but stopped on the porch, watching as she twisted some twigs off the shrubs that grew out of the river.

She came back with the twigs that were brown and had a smell I wasn’t familiar with. She hurriedly put them in a small pounding jar to grind them and also added a few liquids that looked like elixirs to it while grinding. She whispered some chants, and the mixed portions went up in white smoke before turning into a dark portion. I then realized she was a sorceress, but she couldn’t be the one we’d been searching for.