by brett hicks
I covered my katana up with a baggy black trench coat. Sally was laughing hysterically at me, telling me I looked like Buffy and Blade had a love child. I know she is just trying to distract herself from the stress of this situation, but she is going to pay for that one later.
In true wolf style Sally and Dylan did not carry any weapons. They are just tooth and claw for weapons, but it was more than enough to make them a force to be reckoned with. My mother coached me on how to search for gris-gris. Jaden was coming with us as a representative of the coven’s sect. Jon was coming with us as well, but he was holding off on back up for now, since he did not want the wolves to end up too dead.
If we could find a gris-gris on Sally’s dad, then it would be enough evidence to convict the voodoo user with multiple homicide and attempted murder by magical means. That was a death sentence with a very short wait on death row for any magical being. His superiors were salivating at the prospects of the largest sup sting in the last few decades. I cannot really fault humans on their mistrust of sups, because we can color pretty far outside the rules of civilized society.
I had an ear bud in my left ear, so I could keep in touch with our humans. Sally and Dylan had ear buds too, but they might get trashed if they had to shift. Sally was going to try to keep the lesser wolves from attacking us, while I tried to find any voodoo talisman that might be on her dad. Dylan was to back Sally up and my mom was going to help me locate the magic. Jon was to be our cover in case we needed to open up on the pack wolves. Jaden was just supposed to stand back and look pretty, no doubt reporting everything to my grandmother.
Jon had two desert eagles with silver hollow points. A twelve gauge pump action shot gun with silver shot mixed in. He also had his every day .45 caliber service weapons. It felt like we had enough fire power to make Rambo proud. My mom carried a jacket full of silver throwing knives and a western style short sword. She did not carry any fire arms, because she claimed they were too clumsy for her taste.
I walked to Jon’s unmarked car and climbed into the passenger side front seat. Sally and Dylan were taking my Civic and my mom was taking her car, which was loaded with herbs and a ritual alter to try to locate and identify the voodoo practitioner. Jaden was riding shotgun with my mom. She was supposed to help in the search rituals, so that she could testify to the validity of the magic back tracing spells.
Jade was a registered witch, who has testified many times already in magical cases. She is apparently a prodigy for her age and well respected in the community. Her mother was my grandmother’s right hand on the sect leadership, until her death ten years ago at the hands of vampires. They supposedly stalked her and attacked in a cluster. They drained her beyond ability to heal, and then beheaded her with cold iron.
Jon looked at me with concern as he started the car up.
“Cheri you know you don’t have to put yourself in such danger right?”
I shrugged and sighed. I massaged my temples with my fingers and said, “Yes I really do need to do this. This is our best chance to kill two birds with one stone. Good luck trying to wrestle an apex alpha male to the ground, without a dyamphyr taking the blows he will be dishing out.”
“Cheri I just mean that you do not need to make yourself into a meat shield just because you have vampire blood. You have nothing to prove to humanity, if anything I believe you have shown me that you are much better than most humans, despite living with a blood hunger.”
“Just drive Jon, but your concern is duly noted. Thanks for that.”
………
The neutral site ended up being an abandoned ship yard right across the bridge going into the French Quarter. It was very close to my high school too ironically. Some rusted shipping containers were loosely stacked at one corner of the lot. The wolves were all standing outside their cars behind the apex. I spotted Sally’s mom right behind him too. My mom’s car pulled in first and her and Jaden got out first, since they were both witches. Jaden made this look like a legit meeting for now.
Jon and Sally parked and I took a deep breath, then I climbed out of the black unmarked car. I heard a symphony of growls from the pack wolves now.
Sally chuckled and said, “Damn Kay they really hate you don’t they?”
I rolled my eyes and I walked to stand in front of my mother and Jaden. Sally and Dylan stood beside me. I heard a roar as her father stalked forward. He towered over me. Her mom was close behind him, but she held up her hand, so the others would stay back for now.
“What are you doing here little half-breed? Do you speak for the witches now?”
I cleared my throat and spoke at a load volume, “I am here to maintain the peace between the sects and the humans. By laws of the anti-aggression treaties I invoke the right to fair combat with you Apex Early.”
I heard gasps from the wolves and some laughter. Sally’s mom was bug eyed now and she looked at me, sizing me up.
“Kayla surely there is a better way for this, than to challenge your own God Father to combat.”
“I am not here for vengeance on him, but to do us all a favor and help him free himself of dark influence. “ I could not be more specific than that for now. I needed to have the chance to get close to him, before I tipped my hand, since my mom did not know if there was a failsafe in the spell on the gris-gris.
Sally’s mom looked truly sad now and she did not seem to like the idea of her husband fighting with a young dyamphyr. She knew that besides Sally, I was about the only person that could go blow for blow with him.
“You wish to fight me in fair combat pup? You may keep two daggers, disarm the rest and I shill accept. One dagger per arm will make this like tooth and claw for you girl.”
I shrugged and unstrapped my gear handing it to Dylan. I did not need the extra gear to fight him one on one, I just needed it in case they rushed us, without hearing me out first. Now I just had to beat the shit out of the most powerful wolf in all of New Orleans, no pressure there.
I looked him in the eyes and I felt my vein begin to chill. My mind relaxed into a cold calm. “Your word that the outcome of this fight will not affect the peace treaties you or your family has signed over the years?”
He snorted in amusement and said, “Killing you will only gain me points with each sect pup, but on the off chance that you do walk away with my pelt, you have my solemn word.”
I nodded to him and squared myself into a ready stance. I needed to channel every bit of my strength to be able to go with him. This was not a match; this was a real fight to the death. I needed to call on all my dyamphyr strength and agility to match him. He was a ninety eight year old were wolf with ancient apex alpha bloodlines. I was banking on one fact though; he could not be fighting at one hundred percent power, with a gris-gris controlling him. He would be a little sloppy and a little less powerful. He would be more than Dylan, but not quite as deadly as Sally. I had never seen the she-wolf at her worst yet, but I could feel that he was not quite up to his daughter’s power at this moment.
I needed him to be a little less, or I stood no chance as I am now, because I have not hit my eighteenth birthday yet. I am now four days from coming into more power. I do not have four days to waste; we do not know what their end game is, or why they have been controlling the apex of the wolves.
Chapter: 20
A savage roar, more violent than any I had ever heard or felt ripped through the night. I felt my bones vibrate under the sound of the roar Mr. Early loosed at me. I felt it wash over my icy calm, but I did not have time to be scared. I am the night and I am the child of all the darkness in this world. I fear nothing in the night’s sky, because I am dyamphyr and I am living death.
He charged at me in a blur of speed, nearly faster than my eyes could track, I did not bother matching speed. I readied myself and I sidestepped him at the last possible split second. He clawed hands grazed my long sleeve tee shirt. I spun and threw a high guard with my left hand and blocked the right cross coming at me. I took a leap back a few steps out of reac
h from his long limbs. He was nearly a foot taller than me, but I did not have time to care. I had to make him madder right now. I had to break his visage of focus and I would have a slight upper hand.
He rushed me again and I threw a knee into his abs at lightning speed. I pivoted away and he caught me in the shoulder with a glancing blow and damn it hurt! He rushed me again and I dodged low, and then sprung into an uppercut that connected to his chin. He took one step back then jabbed me in the jaw. I felt like I had just been punched with a car.
I shook my head as he circled me calmly now. I felt his hostility radiate off of him, like waves of a bonfire in the summer heat. I focused on his leg movements and his shoulders. I wanted to know when he committed to an attack.
He swiped at me three times and I dodged each blow. I watched his motions and I tried to expand my senses as a witch, so I could find the damn gris-gris. I could not fight him in honest until I found the damn thing. This whole ploy was all to grab that charm and rip it from him.
I could see feint purple radiate in the waves of his aura now. I realized that the caster was sending him energy now. They wanted to end me while they had a chance to. I had to up the stakes now, or I would die. I was about to play a very dangerous game of chicken with Mr. Early now. I could afford no fear, nor any split in my focus.
I flexed my metaphysical muscles and completely opened my mental fist that held my magic in tight. I let my full magic whip around me like frosty wings and I felt everything around me drop below zero that instant. I felt the dark magic begin to swell into the gris-gris, now it was so tangible; that I could see his aura go dark purple and the greens were barely registering on the fringes of his aura.
I knew that the caster was going to shield him from my icy onslaught, so I formed dozens of small icy blades and I pushed a huge portion of my magic into it. I felt the purple in his aura swell now. I fired off all the icy death at him like little frozen arrows raining down on him. I blurred out of sight for the barest of moments and I watched his aura, as I palmed my right hand dagger.
It was just over his heart, the same tissue that I had seen my mother reveal to have been missing in the victims. Lucky my blade was both silver and cold iron. I snaked my glade deep into his chest, but not to his heart proper. I saw the purple flare to life more brightly now and I twisted the blade and then I yanked it out on a hard angle, to be sure I tore loose the whole tissue area.
I heard gasps from the crowd I looked at my dagger and I had speared the gris-gris and I had pulled it free in some miracle. I cucked the blade at my mother’s feet and she pulled the tissue free, before my cold iron blade could completely destroy the charm.
I left myself completely open on that all or nothing attack and I paid for it dearly. I could see the purple still tainting his aura now and his claw buried into my gut, before I could back pedal from his thrust. I coughed and hacked and I punched him three times in the face, causing him to lose his claws from my gut.
I staggered back a few paces, with my hot blood flowing from the wound. I focused my magic to cool my wound and slow the bleeding. I pivoted to the side and he raked my right shoulder in his furious pass at me. I could feel the dark magic pouring off of him like a flood now. I had to keep on and endure, until he came to himself, but he was seeing red now and I knew it.
He caught me with a round house so fast I did not see it coming. His movements were becoming much more calculated and lucid now. I pushed past the pain and reclaimed my icy calm. I was a dyamphyr I reminded myself of this fact. I could recover greatly if I could just sink my fangs into him.
He rushed me like a bull in a china shop. I let him and I latched myself onto his neck and I swung my head up and I sunk my fangs into his shoulder and I drank as much of his lifeblood as I could, before he threw me free of him.
I felt my wounds beginning to mend quicker now and I blurred to him and I high guarded from a vicious cross and I snap punched his left shoulder and I heard the crunch of his collar bone. He began to throw flurries of blows at lightning speed, I gave as many as I took. I pushed past the pain of the damage his fist5s were inflicting on my body. I traded blow for blow with him in a savagely quick exchange.
I felt myself wearing down and I was running out of options now. I hated to do what I knew I needed to now, but I had no other choice. I called forth all of my magic and I dropped to my knees and I latched onto his feet, freezing them in place, then I rolled behind him. I felt his right claw score meat on my back, before I had fully passed him.
I palmed my left dagger and I lunged at him. He was rooted in place now and I jabbed it at his throat and all sound was gone. You could hear the light winds blowing and no one spoke. I glared into his eyes with my silver pools of vampiric power.
I snarled out, “Wake the fuck up Apex Early, less I truly have to end you here and now.”
He struggled with my arm for another moment, then he leaned his neck into the blade more, a sign of surrender for a wolf. I studied him now and I realized all the purples and blacks were purged from his aura now.
“Are you with me now Mr. Early? I really don’t wanna have to do this.”
He smiled at me and nodded carefully. “I am here kiddo; sorry for all the bullshit I have caused you.”
“I am gonna release you, are you going to behave yourself now?”
He nodded and smirked at me. He was his old cocky self again. I let out a sigh of relief and I felt as much as saw, his wolves were coming closer to us now. I cursed under my breath and I saw Sally and Dylan walk past me to head off the other wolves. I slowly lowered my blade, then I sheathed it when he did not try to attack me. I could only sense his hunter greens of vivid were wolf magic now. He was back to himself now.
“I guess I better explain to everyone what happened to me huh kiddo?” I smirked and nodded agreement. His wounds were closing slowly, his damn regeneration were something else. I honestly do not think I could ever have managed him in a fair fight right now. I could not help but feel like a cheater; I used two blades and a shit load of ice magic in the fight.
Mr. Early used his booming apex alpha voice to calm all the wolves and make them focus on him now.
“Pack, I was under the control of a damn voodoo priestess. She had about a dozen vampires jump me in my late run after our raid on the Coffin and Nail. She had them drug me long enough to put some kind of hex charm in my chest. I could still see everything I did since then, but it was like someone was driving my body the whole time. It was not me who attacked Kayla outside the pack gates; it was this priestess controlling me. She was the daughter of the current head of the voodoo lands.”
There were gasps of shock from all the wolves, including Sally’s mom. She looked so shocked by everything he explained to them. We had our suspect now and we were going to move on her, before she tried to go to ground.
I turned and looked at Jon; he came to me with a large pint of fresh type A blood. I took it greedily and gulped it down like a savage beast. I relished that tangy blood. The type A tasted faintly of cinnamon to my vampire taste buds. We could taste so much more in blood than the human tongue could. I took a long breath and licked my lips clean.
I looked up at Jon, who was trying not to be bothered by my dietary requirements. I knew that no human would ever really be ok with what I was. It was a constant struggle for them to try to accept what I was under the best conditions. I began to wonder again, if I had made a mistake, by joining the police department, but what was done, was done.
“Hey Jon you have enough to call in a warrant for the voodoo lands now right? We are going to need SWAT for that type of raid.”
He nodded and said, “Yes let me call this in and tell my boss what we have here. You mom and Jaden are currently tracing the energy of the owner of the gris-gris now. They will back trace the magic to her location and try to confirm her identity, but your apex wolf has already said who she is, so we are good to go either way Kayla.”
I nodded and gave him a small smile. I b
egan to walk past him and he put a hand on my shoulder and said, “Cheri you did damn good tonight. That was the damnedest fight I have ever seen. Go rest up a bit, we will be moving on the suspect once I get the green light.”
I nodded again and walked over to the car and pulled out a towel and I wet it with a bottle of water. I began to wipe the blood from my skin and then I changed my shirt. I felt so shaky from the adrenaline fleeing my system now. I climbed into the back of my mom’s SUV and I decided to take a cap nap and recover some strength.
Chapter: 21
Everything from North Rampart Street to the waterfront was all known as the voodoo lands. A lawless area that mostly goes ignored by the police, unless they have a damn good reason to risk entering it. For most of the past century this area has been the hot bed of black magic. The voodoo priestesses were so deeply entrenched in the voodoo lands, which even the coven, could not completely drive them out. They never had a good enough reason to try either.
I had re-equipped my full assortment of weapons now and I had an hour cat nap. I had brought a bottle of type A with me so that I could heal up while I slept. I was still raw and sore, but I mostly was good to go now.
Our target was one of my class mates. Darla Cloud, she was just turned eighteen and the heiress to the voodoo lands. She was a tan girl with dark brown hair and dark green eyes. She was about five foot seven. I had never taken note of her at school, but she had laid low in public. Mr. Early said that he definitely saw her, when the vampires jumped him. He also saw James of Whales at the ambush too.
He did not know why Darla had decided she needed him, nor did he know what she did with the other gris-gris, but he could link her to the murders. Mr. Early was quite embarrassed with himself, but he had offered wolves to help the SWAT team now rolling into the voodoo lands.
The whole area was mostly small shotgun style houses and small single bedroom homes. It was run down and the stink of death was nearly overloading my senses. The air was pregnant with magic tonight and a sense of foreboding filled me with dread. I could see a purple and black haze that filled the night sky at the house we were targeting.