Torn Between Two

Chapter 2

Zhen Zi let out a whistle from his mouth, a sound so high-pitched Natasha doubted if normal humans could hear it. She herself struggled to hear it. Almost like clockwork, werewolves began to fill the room, coming out of hiding places and secret compartments, until she was completely surrounded.

At first, Natasha was surprised, but she soon found the answer. The werewolves were all probably in some sort of meditative sleep, deliberately reducing their own heart and breathing rates, and that shrill whistle, was the signal to wake them up! Natasha did a quick head count. At least a dozen and a half werewolves surrounded her, excluding Zhen Zi. This was bad, very, very bad, if it was anyone apart from her. She smiled, barely able to contain her desire to kill them all.

“So, this is the fabled Wolfsbane, the assassin with the highest werewolf kill count in history, the most skilled blade of this era.” A thick voice said, drawing out the words in what Natasha assumed was for dramatic effect. The speaker stepped from behind Zhen Zi, while everyone else's footsteps were quick and silent, as if walking on eggshells, his were strong and purposeful, as if he was a king attending to his subjects. He looked at Natasha, glowing eyes scanning her from top to bottom, like a goat he just might buy. “I must say, I expected more.”

The speaker in question was tall, taller than Natasha by at least a head, and built like a boxer, with broad shoulders and long arms, his face was angular and sharp, with a nose that was a bit too long to be called handsome. He wore dark green, some kind of military outfit, in a way only a soldier could, he even had his hair cut in some kind of buzz cut. Zhen Zi nodded to the werewolf, but the werewolf ignored him, instead choosing to stare at Natasha. That could only mean one thing.

“You must be the one they call the General. I must say, I'm glad I thought I might have to hunt you down all over again, after dealing with all your puppies, of course. Thanks for making my job much easier,” she said that last part with deliberate slowness, her voice masking the intense rage she felt at him. Her mother had whispered about him, he was one of those that had hurt her most.

Instead of rising to the bait, he simply raised one hand above his head, and snapped, a sharp sound that filled the entire room. All around the room the werewolves began to transform. They must have been given lycanide, a d**g that allowed werewolves to transform fully even without a full moon. The transformation from the d**g lasted for a short while though, at most a quarter of an hour, and excessive use has a risk of making the user insane. Besides, it was also crazily expensive, and using enough for twenty werewolves for just her spoke volumes on how highly they rated her skills.

The werewolves growled, their growls getting deeper and morphing into howls. Well, Natasha wouldn't wait for them to come for her. She flicked her fingers, and threw one of her knives at the general, but Zhen Zi stepped in the way, easily plucking it out of the air. The General didn't even flinch. Pity.

The other werewolves threw knives at her not so lucky. Her hands were a blur, moving at insane speeds and throwing silver knives, each of them meeting its mark. Very soon, in the seconds they took to transform, half a dozen of them had been taken out.

Even with Natasha's knife skills, she was still outnumbered a dozen to one, and the dozen were already done transforming. Even while standing on four legs, they were huge, almost at the height of Natasha's shoulders. Natasha smiled, she had been looking for a chance to vent her rage.

As one, the werewolves pounced, attacking her from all directions. She went low, rolling to the side and slashing a werewolf across the thigh. It howled as dark blood flowed openly from the wound, filling the room with a distinctive coppery scent, his werewolf healing useless against Natasha's sword.

The other werewolves reached her, and the next few minutes were a mixture of attacks, blocks and the snarls of werewolves as they were slashed. Within minutes, half of them were dead. Although she did sustain her fair share of injuries, her ribs were aching badly from when she was too slow to dodge a werewolf's attack. Her suit had taken the brunt of the damage, but she feared at least one of her ribs would be broken.

The werewolves were getting faster now, slashing and biting, or maybe it was her that was getting slower. How long had they been fighting? Two minutes? Five? Ten? It didn't matter, even through her deep rage, Natasha knew the truth, she had to retreat. Even if she killed them all, Zhen Zi would kill her in her present state. Natasha hated retreating, especially with the one that hurt her mother so close, but even she admitted her chances of victory were nonexistent at best. She pulled out a dark round object from one of her many pockets, a little bigger than an average tennis ball. It was her personal creation, a home-made equivalent of a flash-bang and smoke bomb hybrid. She designed it specifically to deal with a werewolf's superior senses, it should be able to stun them for a moment at least, giving her enough time to escape.

She jumped back, barely evading a werewolf's bite, but she earned another s***h in the thigh from another as a reward. She groaned as pain shot up her leg, not even liquid metal could protect one completely from a werewolf. She pulled out the ball, holding the slick yet fragile material in her hand, she had one chance to do this. She could not afford to mess it up.

Natasha twirled and slashed, her movements a dance of blood and death, another werewolf fell, its throat slashed open by Natasha's sword, but deep down, Natasha knew it wasn't enough to win, even now, another werewolf had taken its place, and the remaining were the strongest of the lot.

Natasha danced back and forth, her feet barely touching the ground, completely surrounded by werewolves, and then she saw the perfect moment. All the werewolves perfectly aligned, as if she had positioned them herself, they charged at her, all of them barely a foot from her, they were so close she could even smell their fur and rank breaths. She smiled, she couldn't have asked for a better opportunity.