His words made my imagination slide to a horrible place, and I felt my fear turn into rage. These guys didn’t know that Charlotte was a trained succubus assassin, they just thought she was a normal girl, and Albert planned on doing horrible things to her after he beat me up. The edges of my vision started to darken, and I observed my left fist fly out and slam into Albert’s handsome face. I hadn’t even thought about doing it, the limb just seemed to move on its own as if I was watching someone else play a video game.
“No!” I shouted; half because I was mad at this asshole for thinking he was going to hurt an innocent girl, and half because I almost didn’t want to punch him.
Albert’s head snapped back, and I felt his nose crumple under my knuckles. The sensation was oddly satisfying, and my right hand came out to punch him in the throat area. He fell away from me after both strikes, but his bully friends caught him before he could fall.
The group looked at me in stunned silence for a few moments, and Albert made a few hacking sounds while he touched his nose. His face didn’t look very handsome now, and his eyes were wide with fury.
“You punched me! My nose is broken!”
“We just called Dr. King!” Kristen shouted behind me, and I turned slightly to see the group of angel girls standing in the back corner of the locker room. They had only stepped half a foot out of the hallway, and the trio looked terrified.
“Fuck you!” Albert screamed as he shot toward me.
Then the entire locker room erupted into chaos.
Chapter 12
I tripped over the bench when Albert shot toward me. A cry of panic escaped my mouth as I fell, but the folly ended up saving me a bit. The accident helped me avoid colliding with his chest, and the large boy slammed face first into the lockers above me. I tried to get my feet flat on the ground so that I could stand, but my legs accidently tangled with his, and he gave out a startled cry when he fell over sideways. The world was kind of in slow motion again, and I saw Albert’s handsome face collide with four different opened locker doors when he tumbled down to my side.
I reached for the bench, and managed to pull myself up to my feet in time to see one of the cat-boys try to punch Charlotte. The girl still hadn’t taken off her glasses, and her hands had not transformed into her usual bird looking claws, so I guessed that she hadn’t dropped her disguise. She danced back a few steps, and the cat-boy’s fist missed her stomach. It was kind of a hooking punch, and he hadn’t expected her to dodge it. He was thrown a bit off balance, and the brown-haired girl’s foot tripped him so that he fell against the lockers.
The other cat-boy jumped toward me with a growl. I remembered one of the moves Dr. King had taught me, and I shot to the ground like a falling brick. The boy’s chest passed over me, I looked down a bit to protect my glasses, and then I stood up while I lifted my arms against his legs. The cat-boy had a bunch of momentum from his jump, and he tumbled over me with a surprised yelp. I twisted around to see him on top of Albert, and it seemed as if they were both stunned.
The boy with the mouths for eyes had tried to tackle Charlotte, but I watched the girl fling open one of the broken lockers. The metal face of the door slammed into the boy’s lower mouth, and a spray of teeth fell out of his head like a rain of hail. He fell back with a screech of agony, and then he got tangled up with the bee-boy.
The harpy-boy aimed a kick at my stomach that I was too slow to dodge. I remembered how Dr. King had taught me to tense my stomach, but the kick still hurt, and it knocked what felt like all the air out of my lungs. I tried to ignore the pain, and I wrapped my left arm around his bird leg. Dr. King had taught me this takedown, and I stepped into the boy as I tried to hook his back foot. I’d done this a few times against Dr. King, and while the giant werewolf had fallen down to the mat when I executed the move, part of me had thought he was just trying to make me feel better. The technique did work, and I was a bit surprised when I landed on top of the feathery attacker. My elbow slammed into his stomach at the same time as the back of his head bounced off the hard concrete of the locker room floor, and it was immediately apparent to me that he’d been knocked out.
The locker aisle that Charlotte and I fought in was getting stacked with bodies, and I tried to disengage with the harpy-boy as the goblin kicked me. He was short, but almost as wide as the dwarf, and his first kick hit me on the top of my left shoulder. I hissed when the electric shock of pain went through my body, and then pushed off the ground with my legs so that I would shoot toward him. The goblin probably outweighed me by only ten pounds, so my tackle was effective at knocking him down. He tumbled onto the locker room floor while I held his legs, but now I was out of the aisle, and the other boys could come at me from all sides.
I got a punch in on the goblin’s face, but then someone kicked me in the ribs on my left, and someone kicked me in the back. I couldn’t remember the last time that I’d breathed, and my vision was starting to turn a strange sepia color. Something hit me in the chest, and I felt a sickening crack reverberate through my entire body.
Then I was looking at the ceiling, and it spun like a kaleidoscope of only yellow and cream colors.
“Sherman! Sherman! Sherman! Sherman! Sherman!” I heard a voice calling my name, and I recognized Charlotte by the fifth time she said it.
“Huh?” I gasped, and the succubus helped me sit up.
“Are you okay?” she whispered, and I could hear the boys shouting.
“Yeah. I think,” I lied. Every bone in my body felt broken, and I didn’t understand how I could even sit right now. The room was tilting, and I suddenly felt as if I had to puke.
“They are running away. I’m going to follow them and see if I can take the trophy. I’ll text you after you lose the angel girls and the werewolf.” Her voice was a dark whisper in my ear, and I saw that she still had her thick rimmed glasses on.
“Werewolf?” I tried to ask, but then I had to cough, and I saw the succubus sprint past the showers and through an open door. I put my hand on the concrete of the locker room floor, and tried to get up, but it felt as if my arm was trying to bench press the Earth, and my shoulders just screamed a refusal.
“Sherman! Wow!” I couldn’t tell which angel girl was speaking, but the three beautiful girls were kneeling next to me. I felt their hands on my arms and shoulders, and the sensation was pleasant.
“You fought all of them!” Rose said, and her eyes were opened wide with surprise.
“I got beat up,” I tried to laugh, but then something near what I thought was my left kidney cramped, and I gasped.
“You are so brave!” Lily said. “Oh, no! Don’t stand! You are hurt.”
“I have to go help Charlotte. She went after them.” I tried to push off the ground again, but my arm wasn’t having any of it.
“Just wait here. Dr. King is on his way,” Kristen said.
“No. I need to help her,” I said, but then I was looking up at the ceiling, and I heard Dr. King’s voice.
“I’m thinking that these boys are drawing a liiiiiiiine in the sand. Yeah,” the werewolf said.
I blinked a few times and realized that my head was resting on something smooth and soft. It was Rose’s bare legs, and I felt the angel girl’s hands push me back down into her lap when I tried to sit up. Fingers held both my left and right hands, and I turned to see Lily and Kristen sitting on each side of me.
“He’s awake!” Lily said.
“Hey Sherman,” Dr. King said as he leaned his wolf face over me. “The lovely ladies here told me about your epic struggle against those vandals. Oh yeah. You’ve made me proud by standing up for the school. I called out Giant Gene, and he said he had nothing to do with this, but he’s a liar, and I’m about ready to head over to his house and talk to him. Man. To. Man. Yeah. He’s been standing behind his boys too much, and then grandstanding from that safety. Well that’s not gonna work anymore! I’m gonna go tell him he’s crossed the line, and he needs to leave my boys alone. Oh yeah!”
> “I need to come with you,” I said. I tried to set up, but it felt like Rose was as strong as Charlotte, and her fingers kept me pressed against her lap as if I was a baby.
“Naw, Sherman. You’ve done good. Oh yeah. The girls here said that you stepped into the squared circle with Albert and came out on top! Oh yeah! Then you protected them and your sister from those other boys. You’re a real champion, yeah. Not just in the ring, but in life. Men are supposed to protect their women, and you did a fine job of that. Yeah. Now let me tap in here for a few minutes. Giant Gene is out of your weight class and he might just squash you like a bug. I was a bit angry with him when we spoke on the telephone, and I’m thinking that Morgan is over there as well. I’m bringing Coach Hellsig, and we might have to rumble. Oh yeah!”
“I need to go. I don’t know where my sister is. She said she would follow the boys. I’m worried about her.” I gently pushed Rose’s hands away from my shoulders and managed to sit up. I didn’t hear the spray of water anymore, and I wondered how long I had been unconscious.
“I’ll make sure that she is safe. Can’t have any girls getting hurt.” The werewolf stood.
“I need to go.” I tried to think of what I could say that would appeal to the wrestler’s code, and then I came up with what I thought was the perfect addition “It is for my honor. I can’t let these guys get away with stealing the trophies and threatening my sister. They have to pay the price for disrespecting the code of the squared circle. I need to see it through. Oh yeah.”
The giant werewolf looked at me. It was hard to see his eyes through his wide sunglasses, but the wolf did make a short nod.
“I can’t argue with that. Yeah. Let’s get going!”
Dr. King reached out a giant arm and yanked me to my feet. The three angel girls let out a surprised gasp when the werewolf pulled me from their grasp, and I saw Kristen open her mouth to say something.
“You three go home. Yeah. The championship cage battle is about to begin, and you all need to be safe in your homes,” the werewolf said.
“But we are the school’s media team. We need to--” Rose began to argue, but the alpha wolf silenced her with a gesture of his fingers.
“Oh yeah. There is a time and a place for that stuff, but this is a private battle that has finally reached a boiling point. Now the lava is going to overflow, and damage might be done to all in the vicinity. No, you three go on home, and you can witness the aftermath of our struggle when the dawn light rises to bathe the world in a celestial glow. That’s the way it shall be tonight. Oh yeah. Now get going!” He slammed his hands together with the sound of a thunderclap. The three angel girls jumped to their feet, and they gave me a last look before they turned to walk out of the locker room.
Then Dr. King and I were running out the door.
We didn’t have to run far; the werewolf had driven his Jeep through the service road and parked it on the basketball courts right in front of the gym. My body was screaming with every step, but I managed to climb up the side of the vehicle, and get my seatbelt on without fainting again. Dr. King fired up the engine, howled up to the moon, and then flipped the Jeep around with a screech of tires and engine. We popped up a curb, down a wide set of stairs, and then we fishtailed a bit when we hit the service road leading out of the school. On our way out of the parking lot we almost ran into a raised pickup truck, and I saw Mr. Hellsig wave to us from inside the cab. The orc spun his truck around, and he followed us out of the parking lot.
I reached into my pocket to check my phone. There was a missed call from Charlotte that came in ten minutes ago, and a text shortly after:
They went to Giant Gene’s house. It looks like Morgan is there too. They are getting ready for battle, or a party. Hard to tell with all these folding chairs. I don’t know if I can get the trophy without being seen, let alone kill the werewolf. There are too many of them. We’ll need another plan.
My thumbs raced across the screen of the phone, and I typed back a reply to her.
I’m in the car with Dr. King. We are coming over to Gene’s place right now. They are going to fight. Get away so Dr. King doesn’t smell you.
Almost as soon as I had finished texting the succubus, she replied back.
This is perfect! I’m going to try to do it while they are occupied. Don’t get hurt.
Ugh. I should have expected that reply from Charlotte. She didn’t seem to fear for her own life. I knew that she had said she wanted me to stay safe, but someone also needed to look out for her. Dr. King would probably be able to smell her around the house, and I just hoped that he would be more interested in fighting Giant Gene then tracking down the succubus that he thought had tried to kill me.
The Jeep skidded to a stop, and the phone almost slipped from my sweaty hands. We were in front of Giant Gene’s mansion, and I saw the front door of the large home swing open. The big blond werewolf stepped onto the paved walkway, and the vampire followed right behind him. Then the crowd of boys leaked out of the door and they all began to walk across the grass of the front yard. I noticed that there was a stack of folding chairs on the lawn, and it kind of did look like they were getting ready for a party.
Mr. Hellsig was already out of his truck, and I saw that the orc was shirtless, had florescent war paint on his face, and cloth tassels tied around his massive biceps. He stepped out onto the lawn before I could exit the Jeep, and his voice rang out with low, guttural words.
“You send your minions to do your dirty work. You have angered the gods, Giant Gene. They have asked us to grant you endings fitting of the cowards that you are!”
“Woo! Looks like we’ve gone and angered the natives. Listen up, Hellsig, our boys didn’t do anything. Why would they even want to? We’ve got the nicest equipment in the state. Look at the shoes that our boys are wearing? Those are two hundred dollar shoes. Woo! We can outfit all of our team with this stuff because we are the best. We are the winners, and everyone loves winners. My robe is worth more than your car! Woo! It comes from Japan, and it is the finest piece of silk you can ever imagine. Comes from spiders, not just silkworms. I work--”
“All your grandstanding and your showboating is gonna come to an end tonight! Yeah!” Dr. King said as he stood next to the orc. “You’ve got no shame. Getting your kids involved in our feud. I can forgive a lot of what you’ve done, but I can’t forgive you pitting our boys against each other. It’s crossing the line. Oh yeah.”
“You crossed the line all those years ago, brother. I told you how I felt about Lady Bella, and you went after her anyways. You never cared about my feelings then, and you called me brother. Now, I heard your pup was hurting mine. It’s one thing to keep the violence between us, but he started this, brother, and tonight it’s gonna end!” Giant Gene pointed a clawed werewolf finger at me, and I felt my aching body shiver with dread.
“You’re just making up excuses now!” Dr. King reached up to his sunglasses, grabbed them by the rim, and flipped them off of his face. Nobody moved for the second it took for them to tumble through the air, but then they hit the sidewalk and the four muscular men erupted into a melee.
Giant Gene rushed forward, and Dr. King brought up his elbow. The point struck the larger werewolf in the face, and Gene’s legs were knocked out from underneath him. He fell onto the grass, and Dr. King jumped high into the air with his knees pointed over the larger wolf’s stomach. He fell like a missile, but Giant Gene rolled out of the way at the last second.
Morgan made a short dash toward Mr. Hellsig, and the shorter, muscular orc stepped to the side to clothesline the vampire. Morgan seemed to have expected the move though, and he ducked under the green arm. He stood up from behind with a rising front kick that caught the muscular orc square in the back. Mr. Hellsig staggered forward from the blow, but he managed to avoid running into the circle of Lincoln High boys that were standing on the far side of the grassy lawn.
Gene was up now, and he was trading face punches with Dr. King. Each of them must have
had the power to smash through a brick wall, and they were pounding on each other’s wolf faces like they were beating drums. The other boys were cheering the match on, but each of the werewolves was dripping blood from their snouts, and it was obvious that the two supernatural creatures were intent on killing each other.
Mr. Hellsig had grabbed onto Morgan, and he lifted the vampire over his head as if the fancy man weighed nothing. Then he dropped him easily and Morgan crashed to the grass with a grunt. The vampire’s sparkly robe wasn’t off, but the orc didn’t seem to care, and he leapt into the air with a frantic war cry. Morgan didn’t roll out of the way, and my teacher belly flopped on top of him.
Dr. King looked to be taking the worse end of the beating, but he interrupted Gene’s next series of punches with an elbow to the face. Gene’s nose looked to break in half, and he fell onto the grass. My teacher wasted no time with his next move and his elbow drop connected with the larger werewolf’s chest. It almost sounded like a shotgun blast had gone off, and I winced along with the boys on the other side of the grass lawn.
“Arrgh!” Mr. Hellsig cried out, and my eyes moved over to my teacher. He was tangled up with Morgan, and the vampire had him in a strange leg lock.
Dr. King jumped to help his friend, and the werewolf kicked the vampire in the face. Morgan flew away from the orc, and he skidded across the grass of the lawn like a skipped Frisbee.
“Look out!” I cried out. Dr. King was helping Mr. Hellsig to his feet, and Giant Gene had snuck up behind him. The larger werewolf seemed to have healed from most of his facial injuries, and he smashed his bowling ball sized fist into my teacher’s back. Dr. King collapsed with the sound of breaking bones, and Mr. Hellsig tackled the blonde werewolf.
Morgan had gotten to his feet, and he moved to grapple with Dr. King. The brown-furred werewolf was starting to stand, but it was obvious that he was a bit drowsy from the mighty blow that had been dealt to his spine, and he couldn’t fend off the vampire’s hands. Morgan threaded his arms through Dr. King’s so that the werewolf was kind of prone, and then the vampire did a suplex move to drive Dr. King’s head into the grass.
Werewolf!: Hell High Book 3 Page 13