Tala

by Adrianna Morgan

  Kuruk went down with a yell. Layla jaws snapped mere inches from Kuruk’s face before the stronger Were threw her off. She heard Martin hiss as he dug the bullet out of his leg and threw the mangled slug onto the table. She stood up and faced Kuruk. Brett stood beside her, his hands tinged pink from the slaughter. Martin limped into place on her other side and together the three of them faced the rebel.

  “A united front,” Kuruk laughed weakly as blood seeped from the missing appendage. He looked around and noticed his lack of men. He and Suzette had suffered heavy casualties, both from each other and from Brett. His eyes narrowed as he leveled a gaze on the human within the group. “You will pay.” He promised.

  Brett grinned. “What makes you think we’ll allow you to leave?” He advanced on Kuruk and Layla did the same. “We could kill you right now and it will all be over.”

  Kuruk laughed. “Such a fool,” he stood up slowly. “You can’t kill me. To do so is to sign your own death warrant.”

  Layla felt her animal rising again. How dare Kuruk. Didn’t he know when he was defeated? She didn’t want to kill two powerful Weres in one day, but she would, if she had to. Who says?” She asked, as she watched him. “We can handle any little Weres who come trying to avenge your death.”

  He looked at her and then at Martin. “The Were Council. The one your father put in place. I am an elder. Only another elder can kill me and even then, it must be with Council approval.” He held up his hand. “So, you see, you can’t kill me.”

  Layla’s eyes narrowed and she tensed her muscles, ready to pounce. She felt Martin’s hand on her arm.

  “He tells the truth,” Martin said, before turning his gaze to Kuruk. “I am the only one here who can kill him, but I must have Council approval first.” He grimaced, and then faced Kuruk. “You twist the rules set by the Council for your own gain and then invoke them to save yourself. There will be a day Kuruk when even the words of the Council will not be able to save you.”

  Kuruk looked at Martin and chuckled. “When that day comes Martin, you’ll be the first one dead.” He waved his arm around. “All this is ultimately because of you.” Kuruk looked back to Layla. “Did he ever tell you how he knows Suzette?” At Layla’s blank look, Kuruk grinned. “He was her trainer. He taught her everything she knew.” He walked over to Layla, who stiffened as he approached. “He could have killed her years ago; instead he let her continue to kill others.” He winked at Layla. “Your family included.”

  Layla felt he heart constrict as the mention of all those Suzette had killed. She knew that Martin was not the one who forced Suzette to kill her family, but if she’d been stopped all those years before—if Martin had stopped her all those years before—her mom might still be alive. She took a deep steadying breath and saw Kuruk laugh at her. She wanted nothing more than to tear his other arm off and shove it up his—.

  “You know, Kuruk,” she said smiling. “I remember those two Weres you sent to attack me. One of them told me that technically, I didn’t need to give verbal allegiance.”

  Kuruk looked at her waiting, a smirk on his face.

  “Two seconds later, they attacked me and almost killed me to deliver your message.” She smiled again, this time a little more feral. “I think we can do the same thing. The Council says we can’t kill you, but we can kick your ass.”

  She saw the slow smile spread across Brett’s face as the smirk disappeared from Kuruk’s. “I mean, technically.”

  His gaze flicked from Layla to Martin and then to Brett. A frown marred his features and he scowled. “You wouldn’t dare.”

  She shrugged coolly.

  Kuruk looked around almost nervously and then suddenly a smug smile tugged at his lips.

  She felt Brett shift beside her. Something was wrong. Both Martin and Brett looked up at the ceiling as Layla listened intently. Then she heard it. The faint sounds of a helicopter. He had a helicopter? She focused, and heard the growls of at least ten more Weres already transformed. Shit. Kuruk had reinforcements. He’d probably had a back-up plan. She looked back at him hating his smirk more than she hated Suzette.

  He looked over at her as if sensing her distress. “Sorry,” he smirked. “Maybe next time.”

  Layla growled as she watched him walk away, and her hands fisted angrily. “Fucking rules!”

  Martin put a hand on her shoulders. “We’ll get him next time. He’s bound to pop up on our radar.” He limped slowly in front of her, “Come on, let’s get out of here. I don’t trust Kuruk to simply leave.”

  Layla nodded, and then stopped suddenly as she remembered Suzette. “At least I killed Suzette,” she said triumphantly. She looked at Brett. “How did you do?”

  He shrugged. “Killed a ton, but Wattan, that slippery bastard, escaped and by then I was too focused on staying alive to go after him.” He shrugged again, holding out his little blade. “This baby goes with me wherever I go.”

  Layla grinned at the admiration he had for his little knife.

  “So I guess it is Layla, one, Martin and Brett, zero.” He laughed, giving Layla a high five.

  Martin looked thoughtful as they walked towards the door. “Take us to her body,” he instructed Layla.

  Before she could take another step, she sensed the Were running at her from behind. She saw Martin and Brett’s eyes widen and they both moved to intercept, but Layla had already turned around. Time seemed to slow down as she calmly watched Wattan run toward her at full speed and instead of ripping her apart, his hands were around the butt of a semi-automatic gun. She heard the retort of the gun firing and saw the bullets as they moved toward her. She stepped out of the path of the bullets and instead reached over to Brett, taking the knife from him and stepped to the side. She blinked and time seemed to return to normal. She felt the impact of Wattan’s body against hers as he ran into the blade. He turned away holding his throat as the little blade sliced from ear to ear.

  Layla felt the hot spray of blood and then dropped the knife, horrified at the gurgling noises Wattan made. She wanted to throw up. Again.

  She turned and saw Brett and Martin staring at her. Now she felt like a freak. The two continued to stare at her and she stared back.

  “What?” She snapped.

  Brett reached over and touched her face. She resisted the urge to recoil or to lean into his touch. “Wow,” he breathed and she felt a sigh of relief.

  Martin cocked his head. “Okay. Suzette’s body. Then we need to get out of here.” He stepped over Wattan’s still twitching body, picked up Brett’s knife and finished the job. The Were stopped moving. He handed the blade back to Brett and indicated for Layla to lead the way.

  They walked quickly, noticing that most of the fighting Weres were dead. The few who remained eyed them warily but did not attack. She knew that some of them had probably seen what she’d just did to Wattan and they weren’t sure what she was, yet. Martin and Brett followed her around the corner to the stairs and finally into the corridor that led to Suzette’s study.

  The walls and carpet were covered in bright red blood. The stench made her gag and she refused to go any further. “Down there,” she pointed. “I dragged her body into the office with the fireplace.” She sat down on the top stair and watched as Brett and Martin disappeared down the long hallway. She turned away from the blood and took a deep breath before lowering her head between her knees.

  Suddenly she felt a presence behind her and her head jerked up. Brett looked at her calmly. “Layla, you okay?” he asked gently.

  She nodded and looked up at him. “Where’s Martin?”

  Brett cleared his throat and looked over Layla’s head.

  “Brett,” Layla warned.

  He sighed. “We can’t find the body.”

  “What!” Layla jumped up, forcing Brett to take a step back. “What do you mean, you can’t find the body?” Without waiting for an answer, she ran down the hallway and into the office. She could hear Brett racing after her. She paused as she saw Martin lift
a hand to stop her. He crouched down and stared at the pool of blood that lay on the rug. He walked over to the desk and stared at it before reaching underneath and searching.

  Layla stared at him, and then saw him still. She heard the loud click of a latch and groaned. The fireplace swung open, the flickering light illuminating a small room. Martin walked in and motioned for Layla and Brett to follow. Inside the room sat a bloodstained chair in front of five screens. The screens showed various parts of the house, including the room in which Layla had killed Wattan. She watched Martin pick up a plastic bloodied container and recognized the transfusion bags. She saw the pile of bloodied rags next to antiseptic and suturing needles.

  Martin walked over to her and rested a fatherly hand on her shoulder. “You couldn’t have known.”

  Layla swallowed the lump in her throat as Brett enveloped her in his arms. “Shh,” he whispered as he stroked her hair.

  Layla closed her eyes. Damn Suzette. She had her. She had her and let her live. She had dragged Suzette right where she needed to be to survive. All because of some misguided notion to show the woman some dignity. She was suddenly pissed. It was not fair that Suzette and Kuruk had managed to walk away from this when Layla had no life to go back to. It was not fair. She cursed the Council for not allowing her to kill Kuruk and she cursed Martin for not taking care of Suzette when he had the chance. Most of all, she cursed her father, who had left her in this mess by herself.

  She pulled out of Brett’s arms and kicked the pile of bloody rags. “Let’s get out of here,” she said.

  They started to walk back when they heard the stomping up the stairs.

  “Damn.” Martin said. “Kuruk.” He walked along the wall, searching. He stopped and then ran his hands along the wall. He could hear the sounds of the Weres coming closer. Finally, he pushed and a door opened in the wall. He grabbed Layla and ran through, Brett following close behind. They moved quickly through a narrow corridor.

  Layla heard the sound as Kuruk’s men entered the corridor and followed them. She could feel them catching up as Martin’s wound limited his moment and her fear slowed her down. She and Brett grabbed either side of Martin’s arms when he started to falter, brushing off his strained words of gratitude. They could feel the wolves getting closer and knew that Martin’s blood was leaving a strong scent trail. They came to a set of stairs and quickly scrambled down. One step from the bottom, one of the faster Weres leaped over them and landed in front of Brett. Without hesitation, Brett grabbed his blade and before the Were could raise his claws or his gun, he was dead, his life blood gushing out of his neck.

  Brett pocketed the blade and picked up the gun. He fired two quick shots into the area above the stairs and heard one of the wolves fall. Layla buckled under the full weight of Martin and Brett awkwardly adjusted his grip as he grabbed for Martin’s arm.

  “Leave me,” Martin instructed and Layla shook her head.

  “Hell no, old man.” Brett echoed.

  Martin smiled wanly and she could feel him bolstering his strength. “We need to make it to the truck.”

  Layla nodded. She had forgotten about their original escape plan. If they could make it to the truck, they might make it out of here alive after all. She tightened her grip on Martin and the three of them continued. It seemed like hours before the trio emerged from the back of the house. Brett was turned again, firing into the darkness and Layla felt a bullet whiz by her head to thud into the wall behind her. She ducked and grabbed Martin, pulling him outside. They scrambled down towards the truck and Layla dove into the driver’s seat. She grabbed the keys still in the ignition and started the truck as Martin jumped into the passenger seat and Brett hopped on the truck bed. She pulled off, and felt the truck jolt as more bodies joined Brett on the back. She saw two more wolves emerge from the secret corridor and join the other three on the back with Brett. She counted to three and then screamed, “Jump!”

  Martin was already hitting the ground and Layla landed on the opposite side of the street. Brett looked over at her and slugged the Were holding him in the face before he leapt off the truck. The other Weres looked around but before they could move, they were enveloped in the ball of flames emanating from the truck, their screams echoing throughout the night.

  Layla looked over at Martin. He held the remote detonator he’d used to trigger the explosives hidden on the underside of the truck and in the dummy. It was their escape plan; to blow up the truck and cause a distraction. She leaned back as she watched the orange glow of the burning truck play against the green of the tree lined suburban neighborhood.

  Epilogue

  Brett sat with Layla as she watched Nali play in the sand. He rubbed her back and she leaned into him.

  “I’m so sorry,” he said again.

  Layla rolled her eyes. He had apologized constantly since they had escaped Suzette’s house yesterday. He had told her about his plan to capture Suzette and how Suzette’s cousin Amy, had set him up. He’s apologized to her about not calling and about slamming the door in her face. He’d also declared that he hadn’t slept with any other women and she’d believed him. Well, she’d done her own investigation on the last one. She blushed as she recalled last night.

  She’d made him strip and had slowly sniffed every inch of body to see if another woman had left her scent on him. She’d also licked her way along every inch of his skin, just to make sure. She blushed again as she’d remembered how he’d returned the favor.

  He held her close. “I love you.”

  She smiled and snuggled deeper into his embrace. “I love you too.”

  *

  The room was a throwback to the old days of knights and kings. Woven blankets covered the brick walls and the scenes depicted by the natural fibers were illuminated by the flicker of the fire in the hearth. The large gray Were sat still as he watched her and Suzette felt a trickle of fear. Her neck and shoulder throbbed, the muscles tight where Layla had bitten her. Her golden skin was marred and she sported a white bandage to keep the wound clean. She was healing so slowly. It was as if Layla’s bite had infected her. She scowled, and then tempered her features as the wolf cleared his throat.

  “You have failed me.”

  Suzette hung her head. She knew that deference was the only way she was going to leave alive. She held her tongue and waited for him to finish, watching a small cockroach scurry around her feet.

  “You have failed me.” His voice was louder this time. “Not only did you fail to kill Layla, but you delivered her into the hands of my enemies. Now she is aligned with Martin and with a human with Mai-coh’s blood!” His voice boomed off the walls.

  Suzette jumped as she felt his warm fingers on her skin. He ran his fingers through her hair, now cropped short but still golden. She watched the tip of his boots move around her and she shivered as he calmly stepped on the bug. The slow crunch sent a shiver up her spine and she took a deep breath. He lifted her head, and stared into her eyes.

  “My beautiful Zonta.” Suzette squeezed her eyes shut at the mention of her real name. “My beautiful daughter. Do not let her take away our legacy.” He held her face tightly, before twisting away.

  She nodded. “May I ask why she is so important?”

  He looked over his shoulder at her. “She is the one.” He said simply.

  Suzette shook her head, “I don’t understand.”

  The Were laughed at her, clearly amused by her ignorance. She tightened her lips and gritted her teeth. Now was not the time. She chanted to herself as she waited for his laughter to abate.

  “Of course, you wouldn’t understand.” He sat down and lifted a glass to his lips. The whiskey was tinged red with the drops of blood he’d added for flavor. “What do you know of the stories about how we came to be?”

  Suzette shook her head. She knew about the legend of Mai-coh and how he was supposed to be a god, but that was all crap. He was just a really old and really powerful Were. She’d tasted his blood as proof.

 
“Tell me,” her father boomed.

  Suzette jumped, “Well, Mai-coh was a god and he gave up his powers to come to the mortal plane to help his people defend themselves. He had children with a local woman and there were the first Weres. The rest of us are descendants of the original Weres.”

  “Pathetic,” He looked at her. “That’s all you remember of your own ancestry.” He swirled the liquid around in his glass. “There is more, of course.” He stared at Suzette and she looked away. No use challenging him until she was fully healed.

  He chuckled. “Mai-coh was promised his immortality back. The elder gods realized that he had selflessly sacrificed to save their people and promised him he could return.” He walked over to the fire. “One day, Mai-coh will have a child who would be able to absorb his powers. She alone would be able to kill him and release him from his mortal body. She is the Hania, the Spirit Warrior, and when she sends him home, she will become the new mortal god.”

  Suzette’s brows drew together in a frown. “Okay, so how do you know it’s Layla? It could be any of Mai-coh’s hundreds of children over the years. Suppose the Hania has already died?”

  “Shut up!” Her father yelled. “You are too stupid to even see the prophecy in front of you. Did you not taste her blood? You yourself said that she was different. Did you not see her powers?” He tossed the drink back and walked over to his desk. He removed a key that hung on a chain around his neck and opened one of the desk drawers before he pulled out a thin box and opened it.

  “Years ago, one of the Council possessed the gift of Sight. She was able to see a vision of the Hania. She drew this picture on a piece of hide and it was locked up in the Council’s vaults.” He walked over to Suzette and handed her the weathered skin.