ONE AGAINST THE PACK

CHAPTER SIX : The First Home Attack

Leo opened his mouth to scream but a rough hand closed over his mouth, muffling the noise. A strange scent filled his nose and his head began to feel woozy. But he fought it back and somehow stayed awake, cursing Marcus’ attempt to anesthetize him. The knife was pried away from his hands with sickening ease. The palm over his mouth was tightened. He began to kick and pull at the hand but Marcus was as immovable as a nail in an oak wood.

‘Stay quiet if you want to live,’ he said in Leo’s ears.

The corner of Leo’s caught the movement outside the window and realized that if he was not set free by his uncle, he would have no way to defend himself or escape. So he became quiet and motionless in the bid to trick his uncle into setting him free.

Marcus hesitated for a while and Leo, with a bolt from the blue, felt him trying to reach into his thoughts. He was surprised that Marcus could do that, and he barred his mind as much as he could. Marcus was a devil, Leo concluded.

Marcus finally let him down quietly, still whispering and hushing.

‘They’re outside and these ones are attracted by noise and light, not necessarily smell. You must stay perfectly still.’

Leo knew it was all a mind game and wasn’t going to lose. The moment Marcus relaxed and turned his eyes away, Leo bolted across the room towards where the guns hung. He clashed into a stool, falling and breaking everything on it, causing a lot of noise. He didn’t stop. He bounded up again and reached the gun, leaped and took it down the hook. He pointed the nozzle at Marcus’ chest.

The older man stood there in the middle of the room, silhouetted by the moonlight which streamed in from the windows; there was no wind but the curtains were blowing. Marcus’ hands were on his side, having an unafraid disposition and didn’t think Leo posed a threat. Leo almost went crazy. Who the well was this man and why wasn’t he afraid of the gun? The other wolves had been afraid of the gun!

Leo could now hear the sounds of ravenous scraping and panting on the four walls. They sounded closer than they had earlier. Once in a while there was a large crash on the wall as they tried to break through. A framed photo fell to the floor, crashing. On the windows Leo saw two of the dark figures of the beasts watching them.

Marcus was moving towards him. ‘Give me the gun,’ he hissed.

‘Not in this life,’ Leo growled, registering the coolness of the trigger on his forefinger.

‘The charms won’t keep them for so long!’ Marcus cried.

‘You should know!’

‘Why the sudden change, boy? I am your uncle.’

‘I have no uncle, you bloody Judas! And don’t take any step closer; I will blow your head off.’

Marcus got fed up and surged forward.

Crack!

Marcus fell.

The gun clattered down from Leo’s hands. His vision began to swirl in sinister circles. His eyes fell on the crumpled figure of his uncle. Had he just shot someone? But he didn’t remember squeezing the trigger. He fell to his knees, his lips hanging loose. His uncle made no sounds of pain and Leo was afraid even to touch him. Then there was a louder c***k on the window.

Leo’s face shot up to see a wolf leaning back to bang his head on the window. The glass grew cobwebby cracks. The last bang would surely shatter it. The wolf leaned back again, this time taking several steps backwards for the final hit. Leo jumped to his feet, not noticing that Marcus was no longer on the floor. The next thing he felt was a tap on his shoulder. He swirled around and saw the dark flicker of a fist in front of his face. Pain exploded in his nose and he staggered back, holding on to a table for support. Grains of light danced in front his eyes. He couldn’t see anymore. His vision blurred the objects into each other.

Marcus saw the wolf sprinting towards the glass window, its eyes red from the light and power of the full moon. Marcus grabbed Leo by the hair and punched him again and again until he finally passed out. He pushed him under a table just as the wolf burst into the room. Several others leaped in also and by the time there were about four of them in the large room, Marcus had sprinkled a liquid all over Leo’s supine body and looked around now for the final element: fire.Across the room, just beside the bed, he saw the yellow light of the candle. But the werewolves were now standing between him and the candle. Their eyes were fastened on him, waiting for the right time to lunge.

Marcus fixed his eyes on them, and then sighed as he recognized them by their aura and scent. They were newly recruited, the ones who couldn’t fight the curse and were trapped forever in the wolf’s body. They had ventured out alone, too zealous to please their leader, Parco. Marcus decided to take a big risk by playing a mind game with them. He had done this before. Sometimes it worked, other times he got a surprise attack. He decided to go for it. He walked towards them casually, not even looking at them and heading for the candle, but bracing himself for any attack. Surprisingly, they scampered back in what looked like fear and indecisiveness, making way for him.

‘They didn’t tell you whom you’re up against, I guess?’ Marcus asked, picking the candle and heading back to Leo. They growled in shame and anger, jerking forwards and back. Marcus set the candle near Leo’s feet and opened a cupboard above him. Therein was his armoury. Swords, stones and rings. He doubted if the wolves still had the courage to attack him, but he wouldn’t take any chances. He began to arm himself, all the while speaking casually to the creatures.

‘So, you’re the latest batch, huh? Let’s say you were a bunch of good old farmers in your farm, picking wheat and joking about the sizes of your wives’ breasts. Then, boom! A great number of wolves came running down the hill. You’re too slow to run and soon, they’re all over you, biting and leaving you to rot to the mercy of the venom. And now you’re this.’

He slipped a ring on the third finger of his left hand. He saw a glint of emotion in their eyes and wasn’t sure what it was.

‘Now, you go back to your cosy woods and wait for dawn. Maybe there’ll be a miracle and you’ll get back to being human...’

He had gotten too far with the tease and had triggered the beasts. One of them dived forwards with a loud growl. Marcus drew his sword. The werewolf went for his neck but Marcus’ sword reached its neck first. A splutter of dark blood went up as the animal went down. The three other wolves charged. Marcus kicked the candlestick down and immediately flames of green fire enveloped Leo. But he didn’t jerk in pain; just laid still.

The first wolf leaped, Marcus sidestepped. Down came his sword but the creature burst into a spray of dust only to materialize on one of the tables. The second one pounced on him and the hand which held his sword was enclosed in jaws of teeth. That was the disadvantage of fighting a werewolf: they thought like humans. Marcus was knocked to the floor and the two animals were all over him, bearing down on him. As he struggled to keep their teeth and claws off him, he caught the glimpse of the ghost werewolf on the table looking down with awe at Leo aflame yet not burning in the green fire.

The wolf fought to have a bite of his neck. Marcus drove his free hand hard into the hollow of its neck. It yelped and instead of backing off charged again. Marcus felt something so overwhelming inside him come up to his throat but he fought it back. His right hand was now pulled ferociously by the other wolf and if not for the steel piece of tube on his arm, the beast would have bit it off a long time ago.

Marcus got tired of playing benevolent with these beasts and a surge of strength took over his limbs and muscles. He wrenched his right hand from its jailer, sending it crashing into a wall. The one on top him tried to flee but Marcus grabbed him by the neck and with a loud cry buried his teeth in the crook of its hairy neck. The blood rushed into his mouth, bringing a euphoric bliss. The animal kicked and moaned under his grip but he held on until the body stilled and the heartbeat disappeared.

Marcus got to his feet, wiping his mouth, burning with regret, intoxication and anger. He retrieved his sword with a flash and went in full at them all. Slashing. Leaping. Pounding down. Picking and throwing. He killed the two wolves in less than a minute. The ghost werewolf was the one left. It was hard—nearly impossible—to kill a ghost by the sword. They erupted into dust with dizzy ease. Marcus took out a little jar from his pocket and smeared the liquid on his hands and on the blade of his sword. All the while having his eyes on the ash-furred lupine. It stood on the table, the light from the protective fire forming behind and around it a trembling background.

‘Come on,’ Marcus snarled and ran towards it. The scent of the potion filled the wolf’s nose and delayed its disappearing. The blade caught one of its front paws. It puffed away, the dust sailing up to a counter. There, it began to materialize. Marcus sent three ninja stars flying towards it. The wolf was hit and came hurtling down the counter. Marcus charged but tripped on the corpse of one of the slain wolves. He was slow to recover. The dust whooshed out and in the next moment, there was a weight on his back. The wolf wasted no time to bite into his neck. Marcus was stunned by the sheer power behind that bite. The sword dropped from his hands and he felt his strength rapidly dimming. His legs kicked but the wolf was in full control.

But suddenly, the grip freed and the wolf howled in great pain, and fell off him. Marcus saw his sword buried deep on its ashy back. Marcus was turned over by a pair of hands. A lean figure stood over him. Marcus struggled, in the midst of the pain and darkness, to see who that was. He was too exhausted to pose a fight anymore, so he resigned to his fate.

The figure then spoke, in a cheery and breathless tone.

‘Uncle Marcus?’

It was Leo, all right. The protective fire had died off.

‘Mm?’ Marcus groaned in response.

‘Can I say something? Can you hear me?’

‘Okay, okay.’

‘Teach me to be a werewolf hunter, just like you.’

Marcus sighed and closed his eyes. He knew that the journey had just begun.