by Tobi Grim
The fighting was fierce, wolfbloods and witches locked in battle, Lupa felt her heart pounding in her chest, oh yes, she wanted to kill, to rip them apart. Grinning, she ran into the masses joining the fray. With satisfaction she sliced through the weak blooded animals as though they were nothing but flowers, her black lightning shooting deep into their foul flesh.
Something grabbed the hood of her jacket, pulling her to the ground with a thud. Fuck. She rolled and turned her gaze upwards, a fucking wolfbitch was licking her lips looking down at Lupa. The bitch’s teeth bared in a snarl.
“Fucking cunt witch, thinkin’ you can just killin’ us. I looking forward to tastin’ you mongrel blood in my mouth.”
Lupa scrambled to her feet, blade poised out in front of her. Glancing around, she noticed that three more fucking wolfbloods were coming towards them, wanting in on the fight. Fuck!
Dameon-
The wolfbitch ran at her, with yellow eyes flashing in victory, but the bitch wouldn’t get her that easily, Lupa leapt out of her way, ducking under a punch thrown from one of the males joining them. Lupa lashed out, slicing the male across the back as she spun around to face the female again.
Lupa! I’m coming.
Lupa grinned at the female who was flexing her large, grotesque claws, glaring at Lupa as the male beside them roared in pain, barely able to regain his wolf form. “Come on then, fucking bitch!”
The wolfbitch crouched, baring her teeth, Lupa charged, ducking under her arm and slicing along the massive mutated leg. The bitch growled, but barely changed, not much more than a flicker through her eyes. Shit. Lupa twisted back to face her opponent. The wolfblood turned, but she was slower now, wounded by bone of her own kind. Good.
A fist caught the side of her head. Shit, Lupa had stopped paying attention, she hit the ground, her knife flying out of her hands, as the male threw himself over her. She viciously kicked at him, grabbing her smaller blade out of her jacket and slicing him across the stomach as she pulled it out, burying her other hand into his would and letting the bloodfire pour into his body; burning him from the inside. He desperately tried to roll away from her but she held on, rolling on top of him.
“Don’t get involved in fights you can’t fucking handle,” Lupa spat as she let her power go, the bloodfire from her hands killing him painfully.
Lupa quickly looked over to the wolfbitch, Dameon was running at her from behind. Lupa jumped up and lunged at the wolfblood, her knife driving into the female’s groin as Dameon’s own knife sunk into the bitch’s back. They both sent out their power into the beast as she roared and screamed in agony. Her heavy, disgusting carcass hit the ground with a meaty thud.
Lupa and Dameon grinned at each other before turning back to the fight. Lupa searched the floor for her wolfblade, finally seeing it near a Protector struggling with a very large male. She ran for it, scooping it up off the ground and thrusting it deep into the back of the male, he yelled as he transformed back to human, Lupa yanked out her blade and let the Protector finish him off.
Looking around her, she could see there were at least twenty more wolfbloods to kill, but just as many, if not more, were already slain on the ground, their animalistic blood stench filling her nostrils, making her mouth water; making her feel sick and yet completely alive. Licking her lips she ran at a wolfblood trying to sneak up behind Tank. She leaped on him, dragging her blade against the wolfbloods throat, thrusting her hand into the opening, crushing his windpipe and sending her magick into him at the same time.
Oh yeah, she was having fun. These fuckers didn’t even have a chance. Her eyes fell to a Protector… dead on the ground, a wolfbitch feeding on his insides. Lupa felt her whole body growing hot, bloodfire filling her up, making her burn all over. Not just for the want of killing, but for the anger and memories threatening to consume her.
Climbing off the dead male, she flew at the distracted female who was gorging herself on the fallen witch. Lupa screamed, throwing herself onto the wolfblood, angling her fingers like a spear and slamming them into the wolfbitch’s eye. Pushing in as deep as she could go, the anger swelled in her heart, tears momentarily blurring her vision, then masses of power pulsated down her arm, exploding the wolfblood’s skull. Blood and tissue hit Lupa in the face, coating her body.
Lupa kneeled down next to the dead Protector, trying to catch her breath, pushing the half mangled corpse away from the dead wolfblood. A girl ran over to them sobbing, grabbing at the Protector’s head and clutching it to her chest. Lupa stood up and tore her eyes away. The pain of her own loss threatening to cloud her mind.
She looked around the room again, most of the wolfbloods dead, at least two knocked out with a spell curse. Dameon was fighting with a male, but he looked like he had it under control, Slasher and Tank were heading for the knocked out wolfbloods, and two Hunters were engaged with the last female, their Protectors guarding them closely… this had surely been too easy…
Dameon ran over to her, blood dripping down his smiling face. “Looks like we won,” he glanced down at the Hunter violently sobbing into the fallen Protector’s hair, “Shit…”
“This feels too easy. If they were expecting us last night, why aren’t there more of them here?” Lupa wiped her bloody chin with a shaking hand.
“Maybe they just left some here and the rest of them are elsewhere? We have three knocked out, we might get some more info off them. Don’t look so worried, Little Red, it’s ok.” Dameon pulled Lupa to him, enveloping her.
Karl would be proud of you.
Lupa nodded against his chest, not trusting her voice or her mind. This was… strange. Was this it? Had she finally got the revenge she so desired?
“You guys alright?” Slasher stood near them.
Dameon let Lupa go and rubbed her shoulder. “Yeah, we good, that everyone done? Nothing outside?”
Slasher pushed her short hair back from her face, “Yeah all done, nothing seen outside. My guess is some moved on from here, there wasn’t as many as I was expecting… excuse me, Tank is getting the wolfbloods over there, Hawk do you mind giving him a hand?”
Dameon nodded and headed for Tank. Slasher kneeled down next to the crying Hunter and gently pulled the Protector’s head away from her, embracing the girl for a moment. She looked up and Lupa nodded, turning to walk away. It would… take time.
Tank, Dameon and two other Protectors were man handling the wolfbloods, Lupa went to the door, pushed it open and locked it in place. Stepping outside into the cool night air alone, she needed to have a fucking smoke. She walked to the other side of the street and lit one with bloody hands, peering down the dark road as two Protectors were running up towards her.
“Needin’ a van?” One asked.
Lupa nodded as they took off into the warehouse to bring a van out to load the knocked out wolfbloods in. No doubt someone would have called Clean-up by now to get rid of the rest of the bodies. Lupa wandered restlessly, pushing her blood soaked hair out of her face. Fuck! Why didn’t she feel better? Why did she feel so uneasy? Had this been too easy, or was it just that she was expecting to feel fucking better? Had she been expecting some sort of peace from this?
Lupa looked up, wondering if Hammer and his men were still watching, could they see her now? She had the urge to yell something or maybe even just give the darkness the finger, but she didn’t. What would be the point?
Lupa felt something slam into her, knocking her to the ground, pain shooting up her knees as she hit the asphalt. She rolled to see someone standing over her, then they hit her across the head, her vision going black.
Dameon…
⃝
Lupa forced open her eyes, resisting the urge to groan with the pain in her head. Where the fuck was she? She tried to look around, unable to make anything out in the darkness. The movement rocked her, fingers brushed against the wall behind her, fuck… she was in the back of a truck. Her heart started pounding, threatening to send her into a panic. Closing her eyes she took thre
e deep breaths. Fuck. Wolfbloods must have grabbed her. She knew it had been way too fucking easy.
Lupa checked the pockets inside her jacket. Her weapons and her phone were gone, but they had left her with her cigarettes, well at least that was something. Huh… they had also left her with the pill box. She didn’t know what possessed her to tuck the box into pocket, she’d had no intention of taking them. But now… should she? Knowing that they would probably want to kill her, she may as well have something on her side… right?
She tried to open it as quietly as she could, but as it popped open it sounded as loud as a gunshot to her over sensitive ears. Shit. She licked her finger and stuck it in, hoping one would stick to it. It worked. Lupa placed the little pill in her mouth, dry swallowing it, feeling it slowly going down her throat. It felt fucking horrid, but nothing she hadn’t done before. Shutting the case with a snap she shoved it back in her pocket.
“Sounds like someone is awake!” came a muffled yell.
Shit. How had they… Right. Wolfbloods would be able to hear her easily. She pulled out her smokes and the lighter, they already knew she was awake now, she might as well enjoy a cigarette before they started trying to beat the crap out of her. Maybe because of the nest, but probably just for the hell of it, and because she was a witch. Lupa lit her smoke and smiled, she’d fucking killed a lot of the filthy mutts, at least that was something.
The truck came to a slow stop. Lupa didn’t bother readying herself for attack, they’d probably be expecting that, she just sat smoking her cigarette and waited for them to come drag her out. If this was going to be the end, she wasn’t going to waste her last damned smoke. And she knew if she was going to fight them, she’d going to just have to fucking wait til she got the chance… if she got a chance.
The doors opened, light streamed in and stung her eyes. “Don’t move, or we knock you out again.”
Lupa kept her eyes closed, put her smoke out on the floor of the truck and nodded. Rough hands grabbed her and yanked her to her feet, dragging her out of the truck. She tried to pry open an eye but the bright light still stung. Feeling herself being shoved into a chair, someone tied her ankles and waist to it. She could smell wolfbloods somewhere, but… not wolfbloods touching her…
“Open your fucking eyes.”
Lupa sighed and blinked quickly, hoping her eyes would adjust fast and stop fucking burning. There was a woman standing and watching her. Fuck. Not just any fucking woman, that stupid fucking witch!
“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” Lupa pulled out another smoke and lit it, glad they had left her hands free.
“No, little fucking slut, not kidding.”
Lupa peered around the room, ignoring Brianna. The room was big, dirty and almost empty. She looked over to where the truck was, three men Lupa couldn’t quite make out were sitting in the half shadow, watching her and smoking.
“Come on then, psycho, out with it. What the fuck do you want?”
Brianna went to take a step towards her, then thought better of it. So, the bitch did have some brains after all. “I want you dead, I want to be the one to fucking kill you too.”
Lupa raised her eyebrow at the blonde girl. She sure did look crazy. “Why?”
“What the fuck do you mean, why? Because you have messed up my fucking life! Everything was going so damn well, and you fucked the whole fucking thing up!”
“Right. Because of a fucking boy?” Lupa couldn’t believe that this was all over fucking Grey.
“No, not just that. Because you blew up the nest, because you fucked over my father’s plans and he disowned me, because you took Grey away from me!”
Father’s plans? What the fuck? Lupa rubbed her forehead and leaned on her aching knees, caked blood flaking off her and onto the floor. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Brianna, can’t you just leave me the fuck alone?”
“You! You ruined everything! My father… you were all supposed to die in there! Especially Slasher. That stupid stuck up bitch. My father was going to take over, and he had me helping him… but you fucked it up! Now my father wants nothing to do with me, because you ruined everything!” Brianna’s face was red, tears were welling in her pathetic eyes.
Wait, all supposed to die? As in… the nest where Karl was killed? Had… had Brianna tipped off wolfbloods? “You mean… it was a set up?”
“Yes, you stupid cow! You were all supposed to be trapped in there, the rest of the wolfbloods were going to finish you off, and then my father could have taken over The Organization in Black City. But someone fucking saw them, and you all got out, and you! You fucking blew them all the fuck up!”
Lupa stared at the floor, refusing to show any sort of reaction. So… it was Brianna and her father responsible for Karl’s death. Along with the wolfbloods they got involved. But why get wolfbloods involved? Shit. It must have been Brianna who tipped off the abattoir nest as well. Fuck shit fuck. Was there another ambush coming for them? Lupa felt tears threatening to come to the surface. She squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath.
“So… why get wolfbloods involved?”
The longer she could keep Brianna talking, the more of a chance she’d have once the Gift kicked in and the higher chance that Dameon might find her. Surely someone watching would have seen her… they might even be here any minute.
“My dad had a deal with them. For… other reasons. It doesn’t fucking matter. They blamed him. And he blamed me. And now he’s disowned me. I’m living in fucking Sable Towers! With scum! Because of you!”
“Why not just ask for a place at HQ?” Lupa looked down at her fingers, were they starting to tingle a little bit?
“Why the fuck do you think! I thought Grey would let me stay with him… but… he called it off when I couldn’t follow through with the plan.”
Lupa looked up at Brianna with shock, “Grey was involved?”
“Of course he fucking was!” Brianna was glaring at her with such hatred… “He was going to be my father’s right hand man, and then everything went to shit. And he fell in love with you and you took even that away from me!”
“That’s enough, Bree.” Grey walked over to them, his eyes on Lupa. “Hey there, Little Red, how you feeling?”
Lupa was starting to feel pretty fucking good, despite the revelations going on. Her body was definitely tingling now. “Surprised,” she decided to say, “You had me fooled pretty well.”
Grey crouched down next to her, smiling his fucking charming ass smile, and placing a hand on her knee, but only briefly, not long enough for her to ground her smoke out on him. Standing back up, he pulled a chair over to sit in front of her, just out of reach of her hands and her magick.
“How did the raid go tonight? It was hard to see from where I was positioned.”
Fuck. Of course. That fucking piece of shit. He had been… lying to her the whole mother-fucking time. And she hadn’t even a clue… “Good. All dead or captured. Why are you doing this?”
Lupa could feel the power growing in her, she wouldn’t be able to hide it soon. She bent over and took her shoes off, putting her bare feet on the ground, trying to let the power drizzle into the earth slowly until she needed it. When she sat back up Grey was looking at her strangely.
“Hot.” She said, leaning back. “So, why the fuck are you doing this?”
“Because Bree is right, you did screw everything up for her. Sure, it’s not your fault the lookouts got word to you all, but she was supposed to be there… and you killed all the wolfbloods in the building, the others were not happy about that at all. And I was going to get a damn good promotion. I wasn’t going to be at some Hunter’s fucking call, I wasn’t going to be underneath them. Underneath a Hunter. Like a lower life form. Like you think I am.”
“I never thought that, what the fuck do you mean?”
Lupa’s heart was starting to pound as the magick built up inside her, she glanced over to the other two guys on the truck. They didn’t feel like witches or w
olfbloods, but where were the wolfbloods she could feel? They couldn’t be too far…
“You did. You do. Don’t bother lying. All you Hunters think you’re better than your Protectors. With your fucking higher scores.” Grey leaned forward, his eyes full of anger, “And you threw me away for a fucking thug! I was going to stay out of it, I was going to let Bree and her dad and all those assholes fuck their lives up and I was going to walk away. I was even considering telling Slasher the whole thing… and then I saw you with him.”
Lupa could feel her skin getting hot with the bloodfire, slightly easier to hide, but soon one of them would notice, and when they did…. She’d try hit them with her black lightning, then she could burn the fucking ties around her body and get the fuck out of there.
“How could I have thrown you away? It was just sex, Grey. It’s not like we were dating or anything.” Maybe not the best thing to say, his eyes grew dark and filled with violence, he hit her across the cheek, a malicious smile on his face.
“You don’t get it, do you? You’ve got all this power, it was just inside you from the day you were born… not only that, you were fortunate enough to have the fucking Commander adopt you! How much more could go your way? My parents hated me, and I was their own fucking child. All because I was a boy…. When I met you… you weren’t what I was expecting. I was expecting a little bitch full of herself, but you weren’t like that… you were sweet. And you listened to me… and then you just fucked me off for someone else…” He glared down at his hands, then back at her again. His eyes hard and cold. Lupa felt her heart racing. What could she do… shit. Grey was looking at her with surprise. “What are you doing?”
Lupa glanced down at herself. Fuck. She hadn’t been able to keep it hidden. The lightning was jumping all over her body, she looked back up at him. Well, fuck it. She stood up and sent her power in his direction, knocking him off his seat and onto the floor, his head hitting the ground with a sickening thud. Brianna screamed and ran over to him while Lupa burnt through the ties around her legs and stomach.