Rose

Chapter 11. The Battle

The next morning passed in a whirl of preparations, the pack had breakfast together in the big house and then started to prep the place for the battle to come that night. I suppose being forewarned is forearmed. The pups were all corralled into a large underground storm shelter along with anyone who would be unable to, or was unwilling to fight. This mostly meant the very elderly pack members and the mothers to be and those with young nursing infants.

There were a number of female vampires who offered to be on guard both inside and outside the shelter. It was decided the very strongest, Rebekka, myself (after the extra blood last night) and a few others, like Letty, would be outside, the weaker and more recent would stay locked inside as the last defence. Not that the wolves were very happy with being locked in a room with vampires but they didn’t have a say in it after their king told them it would happen. The men, Tol, Edward etc would join the wolves on the field but only attack if vampires arrived. If not attacking vampires then the wolves were fighting this themselves.

As evening starts to change the light in the sky and the moon slowly rises behind the trees the fire, with the body in it, is lit. The speakers blare out the recording of the festivities from times gone past, the shrieks of kids playing, the laughter of adults and all the time the huge fire burns away like a beacon in the dimming day.

I want to run to Daryn, tell him I love him, tell him it will be ok. The closest I have been to him all day is the first moments of waking, a good morning kiss and hug. That’s it, I know he is important to the pack, his father’s second in command. General to the coming battle to protect his family. I don’t want to distract him but I want him to know how I feel. I rub the mark on my chest, its developed almost a tattoo quality, deep into the skin and I don’t think even the vampire healing will get rid of it. I wonder if he can feel his and know I am thinking about him. My forearm itches mid-way between elbow and wrist but there is nothing there. I dismiss the random itch and ready myself to fight.

As the darkness falls the only light is the fire and the moon, the only sound is the recorded party. And then, then I hear it. I look to Rebekka for confirmation. She too has her head tilted forward, the look of concentration on her face is making her squint out into the darkness. The almost silent pad of wolf feet carefully picking their way across the forest floor, more than one wolf. Each carefully stalking towards the fire. Each paw being lifted and placed with the utmost care to avid dead leaves and twigs. I reach out and grip her hand. If we can hear it Tol will know they are coming, I focus really hard looking into the forest. I can see nothing, even with all the blood, the full transformation heightening everything and the wolf blood supercharging me. And then I pick out another sound. The whisper rustle of clothing. Wolves do not fight in clothes. Vampires do. They are coming. I can feel my heart hammer in my chest, I grip Rebekka’s arm, squeezing her to get her attention. When she looks at me, I close my eyes sadly. She cannot hear them yet, her brows furrow as she picks up my meaning and she started listening, then I see her face change. She can hear the rustle. I watch her eyes widen as she realises that the vampires are here. We will have to fight. I swallow hard. I have never had a fight before. I don’t know how to do this. I wish we had perhaps practised more with the wolves. Then we would each have an idea on how this will go. But no, it’s too late now and we just have to do our best and hopefully minimise our casualties.

I’m straining so hard to see into the woods, beyond the fire I almost miss the first reflective flash of wolf eyes. I crouch down slightly. My hands out, fingers clawed ready for whatever comes out of the trees, almost gripping an invisible box in their shape, my finger tips and nails itch to be claws.

I wonder if the wolves out there know something is wrong? There seems to be no evidence of them changing their plan. The tables are set up but the fire is between the tables and the woods. The fire should ruin their night vision, stop them telling if there is anyone actually there. Also, the smoke should be blowing that way hiding any smell. They think they are clever attacking down wind of the pack.  They are attacking exactly as Daryn and his father planned.

And suddenly the first wolf leaps from the forest his paws out, his teeth exposed. These are not normal sized wolves, and although normal sized wolves are huge, these things are massive!

Behind him comes a rush of fur. Each wolf running at full speed across the training field directly to the tables.  And along with them the lightning fast pale flit of the attacking vampires. Each of them moving fast across the exposed space. Keeping pace easily with the wolves the vampires’ race to join in the fight.

Nothing moves on our side. Not a hair twitches as the attackers arrive at the empty tables. They pause in confusion looking around as the ghost party still sounds around them.

And then I hear it, the deepest throatiest growl I have ever heard, it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Something primeval deep inside my brain says this is not a good noise. This is a very, very, pissed off apex predator. This is the sort of thing that early humans hid in caves from. This is the last thing you are going to hear before you no longer exist.  The evolutionary bit still inside my genes says this is not a creature I want to be near. But I know deep inside this is Daryn. I can feel it the way a dog owner knows their own pet’s bark. I can tell its him. And I know he is there. Somewhere in the darkness. I feel in my heart and in the mark on my chest that it is him. I smile at Rebekka. Raise my eyebrows quickly and grin. I’m suddenly really sure I am going to enjoy this.

Daryn’s POV

As the darkness falls, I change into my wolf. I know I am easily the biggest in the pack. Even Pop isn’t as big and he’s the alpha. My fur is a dark chestnut and my eyes are almost amber. I lower my head to look below the light of the fire, and with the burst of senses that Rose’s blood gave me last night I realise I can hear them coming, I can hear them before the other wolves in our pack. I turn my head towards where Pop is standing, his huge black wolf now has a grey muzzle but I know he is still the strongest fighter, plus Pop fights dirty. Beside him, my mother is in her golden fur, James is in his russet and the rest of the pack who have decided to actively fight rather than defend the pups are all standing in the shadow of the house. No one moves a muscle. I turn to Tol, I twitch my ears at him as I make eye contact. His eyebrows shoot up and he turns back to focusing on the woods. The moment I know he hears the pad of the paws and the swish of fabric his whole face changes; he balls his hands into fists and crouches down a little. Edward copies Tol as do the other male vampires. This is the signal they needed to say this will be their fight too.

A wolf, grey and thin, races out of the woods, he moves fast across the open grounds of the training field and behind him rush the others, flitting in between them are the vampires, their faces bone white in the moon and fire light. The big fire has clouded their vision with light and smoke. They think they are attacking a distracted party, coming down wind so the guards won’t sense them. The swiftness of the attack should have worked, instead they falter as they see the empty tables, the speakers still pumping out the party recording. Invisible children laugh and disembodied voices chatter around them. In confusion a few of the wolves slow down to a stop. Looking around and raising their muzzles to sniff the air. The attacking vampires slow as well. Allowing us to count them. 10 vampires and maybe closer to 40 wolves. We outnumber them by a lot, on both counts. 15 vampires, although some are locked in with the pups as a last defence. And over 100 adult wolves behind me ready to fight, and maybe 50 or so adults with the pups, the mothers, pregnant females and the elderly who will have to fight if we lose.

I feel the ruff of hair on the back of my neck and shoulders stand up. With the rough guard fur across all wolves’ neck and shoulders like a lion’s mane it becomes a double action in a fight, both as an added bite defence it also makes any wolf look even bigger and more menacing. Pulling my lips back from my canines I feel my muzzle tremble and quiver as I growl. I have never heard this noise from myself before. I know I can make it, all adult males can but I have never needed to. I’m the most easy-going guy in the world. But now this growl starts somewhere far down in my chest, it resonates through my lungs and vibrates my throat. I can feel the sound as it travels through me. Tol looks sideways at me and I can see his movement in the corner of my eye, but my full focus is on the attacking hoard. The sound rumbles around the training grounds, its louder than the party noise from the speakers. And as if on cue the recording stops. The invisible party seem to react to the noise. If I wasn’t so focused, I’d laugh. The leading wolf hesitates and then slowly takes a step forwards, I can see him thinking, if the party was a recording the growl was. He’s wrong. I launch myself from the shadows and land squarely on the table in front of them. All of my fur on end. The deep noise again comes from my throat and I lick my lips making my teeth shine in the light and stand out more. A couple of the attackers back away. I know they are skinny, under fed and not in the full prime. But starvation leads you to fight harder, meaner and, as you have nothing to lose, you have everything to fight for.

Tol’s voice rings out as he arrives at super speed beside me. The wolf blood making his usually supernatural speed almost invisible to see. The attacking wolves and vampires would have thought he just materialised on the table.

I don’t know where he got it from but Tol is wearing a white kilt, his bare chest and defined muscles oiled to shimmer, he has a white cloth on his head and a gold circlet holding it in place. The rightful King of the Upper and Lower kingdoms of the Nile is in full battle dress. Golden torcs are wrapped around his biceps and glitter in the fire light. Only the fact he is wearing sturdy leather high ankle hiking boots tell you he is not a mythological ghost. I lower my head and again growl at the intruders, crouching down I flatten my back and ready myself to pounce and attack.

“Your contact is dead! You have been betrayed!” Tol says “Do you still think to attack against the oldest and strongest of us? You have lost the element of surprise. You do not have the numbers to fight an even battle and I can tell that you have not even shared blood to strengthen yourselves!”

The vampires look at him, I can see a couple of them glance away. Tol may win this without there being a battle, but as it looks as thought they might break a vampire whispers: “No wolf would give a vampire blood voluntarily. It’s a bluff!”

And just like that the wave of attack happens. The wolves attack and behind me a wall of fur and undead break the attacking wave. The fight is bloody. I manage to get to the leading grey wolf and as I pounce onto his back, I feel hands try to pull me off, and as soon as I feel them grip my fur they are ripped away by an even stronger force, taking chunks of my hair with them. I hear Edward’s grunt as he takes the weight from my back. A scream rips the air but I cannot tell if it was vampire or wolf. I bite my teeth down into the shoulder of the grey wolf, I cannot get a grip on his throat. He shakes me and flips me forwards over him. While this leaves him with a wound to his shoulder, I’m also thrown clear of his back. I turn to leap to my feet but I’m not a cat, it takes a split second to regain my feet and, in this time, he pounces, his weight takes me on the shoulder and knocks me off balance. We tumble to the ground and I sense another person join the fight. Both of them level up to me and I face the grey wolf and the vampire who spoke earlier. I can take them both but I am unsure how fast the vampire can go. I think I need to make him my priority. A strong leap with my jaws open topples him backwards and as I close my jaws around his throat I feel a knife blade slide between my ribs. The pain makes me gasp. The sting of the blade as it slices through me makes me clench my jaws and turn my head aside. Thankfully as I had the vampire’s throat already in my grip this had the effect of ripping his head off. The knife clatters from his grip but has left me with a huge gaping wound from my ribs down my belly and side.

The grey wolf snickers and then attacks. The thought slips across my mind that any sudden movement will rip the wound wider and my guts will tumble out. But I am too busy fighting back to really think about it. The stinging wound is soon forgotten as I bite and rip at the grey wolf. We crash to the floor and I manage to get his leg within tooth reach, snapping his hind leg hobbles him enough to give me more chance. Another pounce to his back, a full force bite to the back of his neck where his skull starts and he stops moving. I see the panic in his eyes as he realises the broken neck was not fatal. Paralysis has him now and so I leave him to watch the rest of the battle. His frozen frame locking him into viewing the grisly spectacle. With twice as many wolves on our side we are winning but there have been casualties. I see the vampire Letty racing across the grass with a full-size adult wolf in her arms, she almost flies to the infirmary doors, reminding me again how strong the vampires are.

Tol is grappling with a vampire who is carrying a big stick, I watch his muscles bulge as the invader is pushed back across the ground towards the bonfire. With a last flick, Tol launches the vampire into the heart of the flames. As they lick into his hair and clothes the vampire starts the most unholy screaming, his body melting into the flames. Tol rolls the muscles in his shoulders and turns away from the fire. Taking the big stick with him he brings it down across the back of a wolf. I see the wolf arch its back and freeze. The blow breaks the back of the wolf. Allowing my father, previously underneath, to rip out the throat.

I close my eyes for a second and listen. Somewhere, away from the field, I can hear a scream, it sounds like Rose! I see Edward also register the noise as his head jerks up. He climbs off the body of the wolf he was choking with his bare hands and runs towards the shelter. I follow as fast as the pain in my side will allow, as I round the corner, I see Rose, Rebekka and Edwards rip the still body of a vampire away from the door. There are long deep gouges in the wood from his fingernails as he tried to enter the door. Rebekka holds the lip body up with one hand while Edwards stands, his back against the door, his body bracing against the wood blocking the space. When he realises its me, he relaxes. Rebekka throws aside the body of the vampire with a look of disgust on her face, Rose is kneeling one hand on her chest near to where the mark is, she is panting hard. I approach slowly, I don’t want her to think I’m a threat, Edwards grips Rebekka’s arm as she moves to stop me. Shaking his head at her he turns towards the limp body of the fallen vampire. Edward takes a splinter of wood from the gouged door and drives it deep into the heart of the vampire pinning it to the floor.  

As I nuzzle Rose, feel her arms around my neck, the sounds of the battle behind me slowly quieten. I close my eyes and let the darkness and the pain take over.