by Bob Dattolo
The massive man was still extended from the hit to me, and Steph was staring in horror at where I’d been laying in a broken and bleeding mess. It’s just that I’m not broken or bleeding any longer.
And boy am I pissed. My grasp of the English language isn’t robust enough to express exactly how angry I am.
The ground trembled as my power sank into it. There are thousands of possible friends buried deep underground here going out nearly a half mile. I could wipe the house off the map with what I have access to. I’m just not going to. Yet. I have to assume that Steph has her stuff stored in it, and that wouldn’t be a good thing to do to her.
I didn’t realize I was floating until I didn’t quite step as I moved back towards them. The faces of everyone facing me fell in shock and horror at seeing me floating. Piss started splashing down from the huge guy that just killed me, with others following suit. Behind me, the same thing was happening, although I did hear some poop happening as well. That tickled me pink, frankly. That’s a weird thought to have, but I did have it.
I stopped about ten feet from Steph and the huge guy, wondering if I should put a barricade up around these folks. “You have ten seconds to tell me why you just attacked, or I’m going to spend an hour making you die in ways you can’t even begin to imagine.”
His entire body wilted as he collapsed to his knees, silently staring at the ground beneath my dangling feet.
Steph took two steps forward, and I know they had to be the hardest steps she’s ever taken, “Please don’t hurt my dad. Please…”
“He just attempted to kill me. Not to be too pointed on this, but he did a pretty respectable job of it. Hence my current look. Now…before I start the pain, he has one more chance to explain it to me. I don’t want to kill your father, Steph, but I will. No one attacks me without me fighting back.”
Tears streamed down his face, making me realize a ton of my power is out that I hadn’t quite noticed slipping through my controls.
I barely heard his voice when he spoke, “I thought you were responsible for this…for people threatening to hurt me. Us. My baby.”
I floated closer, “You thought I was going to hurt Steph? Is she the baby you meant?”
He nodded, fat tears continuing to fall.
I nodded slowly, looking across the others, then turned and floated towards the group locked in the barricade. To a person, they froze at seeing me approach. A woman in the front managed to get out, “What the fuck are you…?”
Then I felt it.
A spell.
They have a spell on them. I can feel it controlling them. Directing them to attack Steph and her people. It’s powerful, far more powerful than what I felt at the school or that was on Steph. It has to be there from the bastard that’s after me.
My magic coursed into the group of trapped shifters, then rampaged through them, every bit of them. The spell is pretty freaking specific. Find any reason to kill Steph and the bear shifters.
Nope. Not gonna happen.
I grabbed at the spell, concentrating on it, and finding that it took quite a bit to be able to grip it enough to put pressure on it. Then even more to crush it until it shattered.
The entire group screamed as one, although only three of them fell to the ground.
The woman that spoke earlier is left staring at her hands before she looks up, “What the fuck was that? Why were we attacking you?”
“You had a spell on you. It directed you to attack and kill the bears.”
She looked beyond me, “I’m so sorry. Mike…we’ve been friends for more than 200 years…I’m so sorry.”
I collapsed the wall of magic and then wrapped them all in a simple, yet protective, sentinel spell to tell me if they’re being attacked again. I also hit Steph up so that she’d be far more protected.
Then I raised myself from the dead and dropped to the ground, my angel of death guise slipping away before I turned back to Steph and her father.
“This is the kind of shit I’m talking about. If I hadn’t come, would they have beaten you? I’m not sure. Carl and Zach weren’t as lucky. So…since we’re no longer going to school together, I need payment for the ring.”
Taking a breath, I held up my hands, “Or, I don’t need payment, but it seems to be consensus that it’ll stop things from getting worse. It’s your call. Pay me, keep it, or give it back.” I waited as the father continued to kneel, shocked beyond belief by what’s taking place.
Steph nodded, “I can’t afford the full hundred million, so…”
“I can accept payments. A million a year for 100 years?”
She blinked a few times before nodding, “I can do that.”
She paid me the first installment as her family and their friends talked, trying to work through everything. She was beside herself with worry at being with me.
“I’m so sorry, Ceri.”
I took a deep breath, “What are you apologizing for?”
Her lips pressed together as she tried not to cry, “Everything. What happened at the end. How I acted. You’re…you’re you! I’m not sure how to react to that. It’s freaking me out being this close to you and not being all…reverential or something.”
“I don’t want you to be like that.”
“I know! I just…I’m sorry.”
“So…that’s it for us? What we were developing is just…gone?”
She started crying, “I don’t want it to be gone! You know how hard it is for me to feel like I’m part of a group, but I felt it with you. And a bit with Rachel. I don’t want to lose that. Maybe…maybe it’ll just take time to get used to it?”
I nodded as she stopped talking, “Maybe. I’m…I’m here for you if you need me. Just…you know how to reach me. Do it and I’ll come. If anyone attacks again, let me know and I’ll come.”
She held her hand out, “Ceri, I’m sor…”
I didn’t wait to hear it all, stepping through a portal and closing it, leaving her behind. Her soft prayer to me telling me how sorry she is breaking my heart, but I needed the space. I did hit her with golden light to let her know I heard her, but then I shut it down and cried for a bit in my bathroom.
It hurts. God, it hurts so much to have someone that I thought I was building something with back away from me because they found out what I am. I don’t know how Mom does it. Like at all. She’s told me in the past that she has to hide her emotions for the most part. A lot of fey will take your emotions and work on them, using them as trigger points. You have to hide what bothers you or create avenues for people to attack you from.
Yet she’s very emotional from what I’ve seen. At least with me. That means that she’s spent countless hours in her life crying over friends abandoning her.
That’s why she gave me the advice that she did. Hold my friends, my true friends, close. If they walk away or push me away, let them go and don’t fight for them. Much. That will just open me up for more pain. I shouldn’t let them go completely, though. She’s had friends realize they were being stupid at a later point. Then again, she fills the gaps with her clubs and things that she joins. Not that I want to do that just yet. Maybe unless she does it with me? I wonder if Melissa would do that too. I think she would. She’s been living in a freaking cave by herself for more than three years, I’m pretty sure she’d be all over having friends. Then again, the chances of someone finding out she’s the goddess of magic is probably pretty slim. After all, how often does that come up? They may be able to figure out that she’s a goddess, somehow, yet that doesn’t seem like something that’s going to happen easily. It’s not like she’s raising the dead every which way like I did. Or leading battles like Mom did. Out of the three of us, I picture her being able to scoot under the radar far easier.
Burying the pain of Steph’s reaction to me took more effort than I ever would have appreciated. It wasn’t entirely hidden when I stepped through my next portal, coming out to early morning light. That…makes sense, now that I think about it. It’s
not even noon in Virginia, which means it’s not even 6am here. I probably should have planned this better. Then again, now that I’ve been here, this means that I can open a portal here any time I want. That’s pretty sweet. Not quite international travel at the drop of a hat. I can’t say no to that. I have to see if Melissa can do this. You’d think she’d be able to since her domain is magic itself.
I made it maybe 20 steps towards the huge, beautiful house, before a small wall of wolves converged on me. Three were shifted, with another two running out of the forest of palm trees with guns drawn.
The wolves put two of them between me and the house, with one directly opposite them so that they’d be at my back. The guys came in, guns plainly aimed at my head, then they flowed around in front of me. As they did, the two wolves moved out and around to my sides, putting themselves just outside of my peripheral vision.
And there we go, one shield in place should stop this from going sideways unless I want it to.
“Umm, hi? I’m here to see Leticia?”
The larger guy on the right frowned at my words, finger tightening on the gun in his hands, “You are not invited. Leave. Now.”
The other one shifted a little farther away, “Tell us how you got past our guards first!”
The wolves growled louder, all three taking small steps forward. The one behind me must think that I can’t hear him, because he’s taking additional, nearly silent steps. Too bad I can also feel him with my magic. This won’t go well for him if they decide to push things.
I pointed towards the second guy, “Umm…no. Have fun figuring it out. As for you?” I pointed to the first, nose working hard as I finally picked out the scent of blood from him.
Leticia’s blood.
My anger came in hard at that realization. I’ve smelled her blood any number of time while in school. This isn’t period blood. This is blood, blood. “You get to tell me where Leticia is. If I don’t like your response, I’ll see how well you run missing a…hmmm, how about a foot? That sounds good. Answer me and not lose a foot. I like that idea.”
My power ramped up a bit as I waited.
“By the way? If any of the wolves attack or one of you shoot? I’ll take it as your answer, and you’ll be experiencing what it’s like to have a foot torn off. I bet it’s super painful. Then you can see what it’s like to run with three feet. I bet you’ll be an awesome guard at that point. What do you think they’ll do? Kill you out of pity? Let you leave to go to another pack?”
The guys exchanged looks, with the second guy shrugging and whispering, “Fuck it. That little cunt’s nearly dead anyway…”
Both men were torn to shreds as my magic rocketed into them and spread out, making them pretty much explode in an orgy of violence. The three wolves froze solid as they stared at where the two men were standing.
“None of you wolves smell like Leticia. Now…either you show me where she is? Or I start rending and tearing. I haven’t had blood in too long.” That being said, I licked the blood off of my hands that splattered on me.
The wolf that had been behind me moved around to the front and contorted in a shift, returning to human form soon enough. She’s a pretty woman, probably 100 or so at a guess, “Please, you have to help us! They’ve taken over the pack!”
My attention locked onto her, “Taken over the pack? Who did?”
“Outsiders. We have been restructuring due to growth, and they came in about a month ago and started making inroads. When Leticia came home, they attacked. Our alphas and betas are trapped. She tried to save them and ended up being taken down. They’ve been…she’s nearly dead. Please help us!”
I moved in a circle, looking at the other two wolves before facing her again, “You’re part of the original pack?” Nods from everyone, “Are the original alphas and betas good rulers?”
She nodded, tears starting to trail down her tanned cheeks, “They are. Too nice, it seems. They let the others get a toehold, and now…now they’re paying for it.”
I growled, feeling the ground beneath me shake and quiver. The three shifters braced themselves as I continued to growl, “How many of them are there? Where are they?”
“There are 102 at my last count.”
“How many of you are there?”
“We had 140. They’ve killed quite a few of us. We’re more than likely down around the same number now.”
“Are all of these bastards bad?”
“No. Some are just normal people. It’s the leaders…they’re bad. Evil.”
I smiled at her wording, “Funny…I’m pretty sure they haven’t met evil yet. How about we go pay them a visit? Speaking of? Where is Leticia? Is she in a cell?”
She shook her head, “They have her chained up out back. Staked out.”
I smiled again, “Guards?”
“Just the normal guards. Every group has at least two of them with us.”
“Faaantastic. Let me get some things arranged, then we’ll go pay a visit. You may want to not scream. I want some friends to come and play as well.”
Craggy hands broke the surface of the ground just inside the palm tree forest, and I smiled as my friends answered my call. Soon enough I had 10 massive shapes that stand at least nine feet tall and are covered with muscle. Rock trolls. They’re God’s gift to SUV-destroying supernaturals. To say they’re strong is an understatement. They also have very nearly the skin quality of stone, so they’re difficult to kill. I didn’t bring this group all the way back. They answer to me…and now they answer to Mom as I connect with her. She’s aware of what’s about to happen and I can feel the zombies start to assess everything in detail. I don’t know how she does it, but she can take in everything that the army sees and use it at the same time.
“Mom? We have an enemy group of shifters that have attacked Leticia’s pack. Two are dead, leaving us about 100. Not all of them need to be killed. Mainly the leaders. Leticia is down, close to dead, from what one of them said. I plan on rescuing her, her parents and their alphas, then cleaning house.”
The lead troll nodded, and I could feel Mom connect back with me through my prayer.
Melissa, goddess of magic, please aid me as I try and rescue my friend and her pack. I don’t know what I’ll need, but please help.
She connected hard, and I smiled as I created a massive portal. “Time to rock and roll. Don’t get in the way of the trolls. They won’t even notice if they step on you. You’ll notice it, though. For a very short period of time.”
I stepped through, finding Leticia…she’s a wreck of a shifter. Those guards are right, she’s barely alive. She doesn’t have a clue that I’m there or that a small army of zombie rock trolls is standing right behind me. My magic goes to town on my wreck of a friend as I snap the ropes and chains on her.
As you can imagine, I’m beside myself with rage at this.
Guards pour out of the woods at the noise, and I use my magic to send out my voice far beyond anything these shifters have ever heard. “Leticia’s pack! Those that don’t want to die! Kneel!”
The rock trolls behind me send out a roar that I magnify as well, then they stomp, sending shockwaves through the ground at the same time my magic dives deep, rattling the entire piece of property.
That brings shifters from the house in a flood.
As you’d expect, pretty much half of them drop to the ground, leaving the others charging forward. Behind me, the trolls spread out. I was expecting to have the shifters slow and stop at seeing everything in front of them, but a wave of magic from the strongest feeling wolf bolsters them as he yells, “Kill the intruders!”
Then magic shoots out of him, sending his targeted rock troll to the ground missing a head.
He laughs mightily, readying more magic, but I’ve pretty much had enough. I sent another prayer out to Melissa and then poured healing magic into my zombie, bringing him upright in a flurry of growth and leaving him whole as the shifters finally slowed. It’s a fun reality of my powers that I didn’t app
reciate. If a skeleton is pretty much gone, I can’t raise it or call someone back. If I’ve raised a zombie, though, I can heal quite a bit. They’re…practically playthings to me.
“Oh wolfy…you bit off far more than you can chew!”
Next to me, Leticia pushes her way to her feet, and she’s brimming with anger and shifter strength. They must have attacked out of the blue, because she’s at least 30 percent stronger than he is.
Her growl fills the space, “You’re a fucking dead man.”
I got her attention by waving behind me, “Save some for Mom’s troops. She doesn’t get to play enough. And…I wouldn’t mind some blood out of this.”
Her smile is beyond feral as her alpha powers spreads to the yard. Somehow, she’s picking and choosing various people and leaving others out, “You wanted to dance with me and with my pack? Then it’s time to dance! Pack Au’leaia!” A roar comes from the group. Well, not all of them, “It’s time to protect our own!”
The alpha sends out magic, tearing into wolves, but it becomes a free-for-all too quickly, especially as the trolls start wading in. I’m not sure how Mom could tell, but the trolls only went after those that weren’t accepted by Leticia’s power.
I expected Leticia to go after the alpha, but she soon became embroiled in a massive tussle as she screamed for protection for their alphas.
Good. That leaves him for me!
He sent a wave of magic at me as I started across the intervening space, and I hit a portal just before it swept into me. I didn’t get to see his face as I disappeared, mainly because I was sprinting directly at his back and hit him without warning. Or mercy.
His spine shattered from the impact, and I grabbed onto him, digging my longer, sharper nails into his chest as I stuck myself to him and buried my teeth into the side of his neck.
My pulse raced as the blood hit my throat, and I kept sucking as my magic latched onto his and began pulling that as well.
I’ll admit, it was a letdown that he couldn’t move his arms or legs from the traumatic damage from my impact, but I’ll take it. I was looking forward to a fight with him, but the blood and power is a nice second.