Kaleb took the chain out of my hands. “C’mon. Down you go.”
He fought with the chained beast down the stairs. I heard Kael snarling and growling the entire way. His overall performance was quite convincing.
I waited a minute before making my way downstairs. The other creatures were carrying on way worse than before. The werewolves were pacing around their cages, pounding on the bars and looking for a way out. The doomahorns scuffed their hooves along the ground, watching us with their fire burning eyes.
I walked over to Kaleb and spoke to the beast in his custody. “Do you want to be caged? Do you want to starve?”
Kael let out a snarl and took a swipe at me.
I dodged out of his way. “Or do you want to live another way? Do you want to be free? Free to live your life the way you want.”
Kael calmed himself down. As he did this, the others settled as well. The plan was working; they were following his lead. The others treated Kael as if he were the alpha wolf.
I moved in closer as his rage changed to calm. He sat still as I approached. A growl came from behind me. The beast that tricked me before was communicating with Kael. I assumed it was telling him to attack me while he had the chance. Kael responded with a loud rumbling growl. It sounded like a warning to the others that he was in charge now and they’d better listen.
I was so impressed with the way Kael assumed their identity and mimicked their personality. He was so believable. If I hadn’t seen him shift before me, I would have believed he was one of them. I had to take my chance. It was now or never. Our window of opportunity was shrinking and if we didn’t act now, it’d be too late.
“I want to show you that I mean you no harm.” I took a step forward. Kael remained still. “I want you to trust me.” I stepped even closer. “I want you to know there’s a better way. You can be free.” I reached over to unravel the chain from around his neck.
He let out a small rumble, taking me by surprise and I stumbled backwards a few steps. I took a second to reassure myself that it was Kael and that he’d never hurt me. I walked back to where I stood before and finished removing the chain.
Kael was now free. He let out a fierce growl and the others repeated it back. He never moved a muscle. He stood there acting unsure of what to do next. Whoosh, he shifted into human form.
I gasped. What was he doing? I looked to Kaleb for assistance.
Kael began speaking. “Thank you for showing me that there’s a better way. Thank you for allowing me to calm my rage.” He looked at the others. “I’m free and always will be. I’ll never let my rage cage me again.”
I followed his lead. “When the moon is full, you will transform. There isn’t any way around it, but you don’t have to be in wolf form all the time. If you learn to control the rage within, you can have better control over when you transform and when you don’t.”
Two of the other werewolves moved closer to their cage doors.
Kael said, “They’ll be alright. You can let them out now. They’re no longer ruled by rage. They want to know a better way.”
Kaleb grabbed the key off the wall from beside him and tossed it over to me. I walked over to the closest cage. The werewolf pressed itself up against the door. Afraid, because of what had happened the last time we tried this, I hesitated. Was this a trick or real? I held my breath and unlocked the lock.
The werewolf pounced forward, knocking me over with the steel door of the cage as it smashed against me with a mighty force. I tried to regain my balance only to be knocked over again. This time the blow came from the werewolf. I lost my balance and flung my arm up into the air; the beast bit down, its teeth sinking in deep. Blood gushed from my arm, which was trapped in the mouth of my attacker. I screamed out in pain, smashing my free hand against its head in hopes of breaking the hold it had. It worked. I yanked my injured arm out as the beast opened its mouth to growl. Stunned and hurt, I turned and tried to make a run for it.
Everything felt like a dream, I wasn’t sure which way to go. I heard Kaleb and Kael shouting back and forth as they tried to get a handle on the beast before it could attack again. I stopped running for a minute, just in time to receive another smashing blow from the werewolf. The hit pushed me up against the wall. Beside me was the blood red eye of a doomahorn looking right in my direction.
I thought I’d met my doom. This was so stupid to have come here. Now I was about to die and there wasn’t a thing anyone could do about it. I scrambled to get to my feet, and lifted my wounded arm up trying to protect my neck and face. I kept my good arm free so I could push the beast off when it came in for the kill. I’d fight as long as I could.
Once again, the werewolf broke free from Kaleb and Kael. I watched in horror as it charged straight at me. Excruciating pain radiated through my wounded arm as it bit down another time. Blood sputtered out of the new wound, sending a spray over everything. I cried out.
A loud sound came from the doomahorn beside me. A second later the werewolf howled out in agony. I watched in disbelief as it stumbled around before hitting the floor. As it lay in front of me, blood poured out of two gaping puncture holes in its chest.
I tried moving away from the werewolf, but my knees buckled and I fell to the ground. My arm hurt so badly. I couldn’t think of anything else except the pain. Remembering I wasn’t safe, I opened my eyes. The red eye of the doomahorn stared back at me.
I clenched my eyes shut, waiting for it to finish what the werewolf started. A few seconds passed and nothing happened. I opened one eye to find that the red eye had turned into a light shade of blue. The dark fur changed into a shining white coat and the double horn merged into a longer single horn on top of the beautiful white head before me.
I sat up on the floor, cradled my injured arm and stared in awe at the amazing creature before me. I glanced around for Kaleb and Kael, wanting to make sure I wasn’t the only one seeing this. They both stood with their mouths hanging open and Shea flew beside them wearing a huge smile across her tiny face.
I turned my head back around as the newly transformed creature flicked her long flowing white hair while shaking her beautiful head. She shimmered from head to hoof. There was no sign of the evil beast that had been here moments earlier.
The pain started getting the better of me. Sharp burning pains shot throughout the bite marks that covered most of my arm. The sight and smell of my blood made me feel dizzy. I looked back over at the others for some assistance. “Guys, I could really use some help.”
From the look on Kaleb’s face I understood the true extent of my injuries. I was in rough shape.
The shimmering beauty walked over and placed her shining horn gently down on my arm. I stared at the glorious creature in sheer amazement. She was so beautiful. My eyes drifted down to her horn because the pain was no longer there. No marks remained; it was as if I’d never been bitten. There wasn’t one piece of evidence remaining of my near-death struggle.
This felt so much like a dream. I couldn’t comprehend that an honest to goodness unicorn stood before me. How had she fallen under the powers of the nightwalkers to become such an evil beast? I got up from the floor and ran my hand through her silky hair. “Thank you. Thank you so very much for saving me.” I looked deep into her light blue eyes as I spoke.
‘Thank you very much for saving me. You’ve showed me the way back into the light. I’m forever in your debt.’
We all heard the voice of the unicorn though she hadn’t spoken the words aloud.
“What about the other one?” I said, pointing at the doomahorn still chained up to the wall. It held its dark head down low.
‘She’ll be alright, some of us just need a little bit longer to find the light. It may take a while, but when she’s ready, she’ll come around. We should get out of here though. Dusk isn’t too far off.’
I knew she was right, but I felt terrible about leaving the others behind. We had helped her and she managed to break free from the spell. What if we could help the
other doomahorn or even the werewolves? Wasn’t that worth staying for?
I looked around. The werewolves paced frantically around their cages. However, the doomahorn didn’t seem nearly as aggravated. It remained still with its head low. The fiery red eyes that had burned so fiercely before were now dim as a hint of light blue grew in the center.
“We can’t leave them. Look!” I pointed at the doomahorn. “Don’t you get it? We might not get another chance to come back and help them. So I’m asking, will you help me?”
No one offered.
I looked at them in surprise. Hadn’t they witnessed what happened? Goodness still remained in these creatures. The unicorn proved it. We couldn’t just leave them behind.
“Fine,” Kaleb said, after a moment.
I was thankful he’d broken the silence and chosen to help me. This was a good thing we were doing. I felt it all through me.
Kaleb walked over to the doomahorn, grabbed onto the chain and led it upstairs. As they passed me, I noticed her head still hung low, but her eyes were showing twice as much blue. Definitely a good sign.
The unicorn followed Kaleb and the doomahorn upstairs. Kael decided to stay and help me unlock the werewolf cages when Kaleb yelled from upstairs. “You’ve got to get out now. Time’s up! Move it!”
Kael and I made it to the top of the stairs when we heard the sound of the door to the back room creak open. I turned as Lakylee emerged from her slumber. Dusk had arrived. She looked at us, then at the unicorn, and let out a vicious snarl. I paused only long enough to exchange a quick glance with her. Kael grabbed me by the arm and we made a dash down the hallway. I heard another hiss followed by a crash. Wood splinters flew past us. Lakylee looked upset and the thought of this made me run even faster.
Shea flew between us. “Almost there, don’t slow down.” We rounded a corner to find the front door open. Kael and I burst though the opening and kept on running right out of the overgrown gardens.
I was running out of breath. I didn’t have the speed or stamina of the boys. I started slowing down just as Kaleb emerged in front of us. Beside him stood two beautiful unicorns. We’d succeeded. This made me feel so proud. We hadn’t saved them all, but at least we put an end to the doomahorns.
“Get on, Shanntal!” he hollered, leaping onto the bare back of the unicorn.
I forced myself to keep running. When I reached him, he grabbed me by the arm and tossed me up behind him. Kael leaped onto the other one. The unicorns raced away from their prison. I looked back towards the house. Lakylee stood alone on the front deck, watching us depart.
The look of betrayal on her face weighed heavily on my conscience. For a moment, I found myself feeling badly for her. She’d shown me a different side, one that wasn’t as dark or evil as she usually projected. I watched her grow smaller and the distance between us grew larger. Was she also capable of more? How much goodness did she have left in her? Why wasn’t she coming after us? Then, the worst thought happened. What if I’d just wrecked my chance of finding Daray and learning everything he knew about my family’s deaths? Without her help, how would I ever find him?
I turned my head around. I needed to stop directing my attention to the many unanswered questions. If I didn’t ignore them, I’d have to turn around and I wasn’t sure the outcome would be good. I hoped for the best as we made our way deeper into the darkening forest.
United
~ Chapter Ten ~
Our group traveled into the forest and further away from Daray’s house amidst the blackening night. I couldn’t fight off the overwhelming guilt that was taking over. Lakylee had trustingly opened up the house to us and we betrayed her. Actually, I betrayed her and worst of all, I did it when she just started trusting me. This wasn’t how she should’ve been paid back for letting her guard down. She had the power and means to track us down and she still had two werewolves on her side. The three of them would make a lethal combination.
I began deeply regretting the decision to Daray’s house. We could’ve made up some kind of story about how the doomahorns transformed into the unicorns. We could have blamed it all on the dead werewolf that attacked. Oh, who was I kidding? It was fortunate that we’d all made it out alive and in one piece.
The unicorns agreed to stay with us for the night and would go their own way once the sun rose. This was like a dream come true for me. Their beauty was even more magnificent than I ever imagined. When I read stories to my younger sisters, I was always drawn to the ones describing the undeniable magic of unicorns. Now, here I was rescuing not only one, but two of them. Right now, I was the girl in the story.
The dark forest continued casting shadows and making sounds around us, putting me more on edge. We weren’t in the best position and I hoped to find some form of shelter soon, before we encountered any wicked vampires or vicious werewolves.
The graceful stride of the unicorns helped put my worried mind a little more at ease. I found myself getting lost with the relaxing rhythm of their hooves as they travelled. Moonlight broke through the treetops, reflecting off their shimmering white coats. It helped light up the night and attempted to keep the shadows at bay. Their presence reminded me that we had pure goodness on our side. In every book I’d read or movie I’d watched, the good side usually prevailed. I hoped it was true in this case and that we had enough to get us safely through the night.
We stealthily moved deeper into the thick forest. Regrettably, the further we went, the darker it got. Even the moonlight couldn’t sneak through these thick trees. The shimmering from the unicorns was down to a minimum. Shadows flooded around us, casting shapes and playing with our minds. After this much time in the forest, the trees and bushes all began looking the same. We could’ve been walking in circles and not known any better. This journey was one of the longest nights I remembered. Whenever I thought day was about to break, I was shocked to find nothing lighting up the darkened sky.
Perhaps my sense of timing was off due to by the fact that we were so deep in the forest, or because I couldn’t clearly see the sky. Or maybe it was simply because it was the middle of the night and we were all exhausted.
“It feels like we’ve been going all night,” I complained.
“I hear you,” Kael said. “My butt is killing me.” He hopped off the unicorn and started walking.
“Complain all you must, but we need to keep moving,” Kaleb said, pushing us onwards.
“Do you think they’re going to come after us?” I asked.
“Lakylee seemed pretty ticked off,” Kaleb said. “She’s not with the other vampires, so I’m not really sure what she will do. The werewolves seem to be harder for her to control. Either way, we can’t afford to take the chance.”
We sustained our rhythm and kept on moving, this time in silence. So many things raced through my mind. Thoughts of how I could set things right with Daray. I wasn’t able to make myself believe he was as bad as everyone said. Yes, I’d seen the monster in him first hand, but that same man also left me alone and unharmed. This showed me the old Daray was still inside him somewhere. He’d said kind words about my family and if he’d really been in love with me, what could he have possibly gained by killing them? I had a building suspicion there was more behind this, more than anyone was aware of. The feeling in the pit of my stomach told me Daray was the key to finding out who was really behind all of this.
I had an unexplainable sense of respect for him. I wouldn’t deny it. Perhaps it was due to the past we once shared. After all, it was one that couldn’t be ignored. He’d saved me, searched for me and even forced himself to let go when he saw I wasn’t ready to commit. He’d backed off when he realized that I loved Jayce with all my heart and soul. Instead of retaliating, he simply left me alone. If I could make things right with him, perhaps we could end this feud. Jayce and I could be together peacefully and no one else would get hurt because of me. Lakylee loved Daray and it was clear he had feelings for her too. In spite of everything, she managed to fill the vo
id for him while I was absent from his life.
Then another feeling crept over me and I suddenly felt sad. It was only a matter of time now until the unicorns left us. I felt proud to have brought them back from the darkness and wanted to share their light with the world. I wanted to show them to all the little girls, so they could also believe in them.
I remembered back to the moment when the unicorn healed my wounded arm with a single touch from her silver horn. I found myself secretly wanting to ask if she could use her magic once again in order to heal my breaking heart. I honestly missed Jayce with every ounce of my being and disliked being away from him. I wondered if he missed me as much. What was he doing? Was he awake and on guard or sleeping peacefully in his fluffy bed?
I let out a sigh as I tried very hard to put my mind to rest. I wanted to shut it off completely, so I could be numb and think of absolutely nothing; just for a few minutes so I could have some form of peace. Silently, Kaleb reached back and gently slid my arms forward. He pulled me up tightly towards him and I rested my head on his back as I wrapped my arms around to hug him.
Escaped the Night Page 19