Wendigo Conjuring

by Wendie Nordgren

  Staring into my eyes and in a voice filled with hate, she said, “Manducare dolor mundi in timore et morietur.”

  “I don’t know what that means, but no thank you.” Through my fingertips, my Wendigo nature felt and hungered for the corruption. She wanted to consume it and cleanse the world of its foulness. I pulled and was thankful that the dark one’s manipulative use of sexual release as an incentive to use my power wasn’t there. The witch screeched in disbelief, her eyes wide with horror. Then, she vanished. Her energy coursed through me, healing my injuries and reinvigorating me. Unaffected by her evil nature, a victorious howl burst from my throat. Climbing to my knees, I watched the tawny wolf.

  It swiped its deadly claws at the neck of a witch, but they hit an invisible barrier and left ripples against it. Moses was coming at her from behind. Leaving them to enjoy their own battle, I searched for those in need. Crumpled bodies of wolves laid in rictuses of agonizing pain before a woman who cackled at their misery. Unsheathing my curved sword, I stalked closer. Her head whipped to me with the speed of a demonically possessed human. Whoever these women had been, they were no more. Now, they were just bags of flesh inhabited by evil. Caught by an unseen force, the sword twirled in my hand and was wrenched from my grip. It flew through the air toward the witch who smiled gleefully and stopped in midair before her. It flipped end over end until the sharp point was aimed at me, and from her hands she imbued the weapon with black lightning. Lifting her arms up, she brought them forcefully down.

  Everything was happening too fast, and I had nowhere to hide. She laughed knowing she had me trapped. The sword sliced through the air with the speed of a lightning strike. I tried to brace myself for the agonizing pain which was about to cleave me in two, but suddenly, a massive tawny wolf hid the sword and the witch from view. A sharp pain pierced my stomach as the wolf slammed into me, and I slammed to the ground with him on top of me. The air had been knocked from me, and a sharp pain pierced my gut. He heaved his weight upward, and with a sickening slurp, the sword point was pulled from my body where it had skewered us together. He dragged himself off of me to lie bleeding on his side. Then, he shifted into his human form.

  “Holden!”

  The hilt was flush against his stomach, and bloody bubbles burst as rivulets flowed hotly from the steaming wound to the street beneath us. Shocked, I stared not knowing what to do.

  “I’ll be alright, sweetheart. Get out of here,” he weakly ordered. He tried and failed to force my obedience, but my shock was stronger than his compulsion. The metal had pierced him through. A few inches of it stuck out through his back.

  “What do I do?” Panicked, I watched as the witch lifted her hands.

  Blood gushed from my own wound. Unable to control my Wendigo, I shifted back to my human form. All around, wolves fought and went down. Most of them were able to get up again, but others, like Holden, would need time to heal, time we didn’t have. In a futile attempt to protect him, I inched closer and tried to shield his head with my upper body. Though not as grievously injured as him, I was losing a lot of blood.

  “Holden, why? Why did you do it?” Given time, he would heal, but the evil coming for us didn’t seem inclined to make it a possibility.

  Weakly, he said, “You know why, sweetheart. I…”

  The sounds of speeding motorcycles filled the streets like a swarm of pissed off hornets and drowned out his words. Hope sprang back to life within me. The witch lunged toward us but was cut off. A motorcycle slid by me on its side with sparks lifting up from the ground like a protective barrier of rage. Hunting Wolf had leapt from its back, shifting into his Wendigo in midair. His claws stabbed down through the witch’s skull, exiting through her cheekbones before her unmaking. With a savage scream, he darted out of the path of a stream of black lightning and descended upon a witch who tried to run.

  A wolf, insane with rage, stood in front of Holden and me, snarling and snapping at anyone who attempted to approach.

  “Back the fuck off!” Sam screamed.

  Heeding him, the wolf allowed him to come to me.

  “Honey, it’s going to be okay. I need for you to trust me. Alright?” His sincere brown eyes, full of worry, stared into mine. “Put your hands over the wound and push down hard as soon as I pull out the sword. He won’t heal with it in him. Okay?”

  Unable to articulate, I nodded. All around, the sounds of speeding motorcycles, snarling and snapping wolves, men shouting commands, and screaming witches created a surreal cacophony.

  Taking hold of Holden’s shoulder with one hand and of the hilt with his other, Sam pulled. The steel blade left his body. Our combined blood made the sword shine with a wet red. I heard it clatter to the ground. Somehow, he managed not to pass out from the pain. I pressed hard against his stomach as blood rushed to fill the spaces the blade had left.

  “It’s going to be alright. Just stay still and calm. You’ll heal,” Sam said. “Shift when you can.”

  Battle raged around us, but succumbing to my own blood loss, my eyes closed, and I concentrated on breathing. Sam would protect me. Even with my eyes closed, I could see the dark energy snaking around us. It beckoned to me, calling to me, commanding me to move. Opening my eyes to slits, I saw two females, eyes black, mouths moving, and wolves, broken bodies struggling as mine did to heal from grievous injuries, writhing around them. The demonically possessed witches pushed outward with their hands as one, and a path cleared between them and me. Bloodied fur and naked flesh formed a hedge of misery leading to them.

  Their chanting latched onto each beat of my heart and made me want to crawl to them. I had to go to them. I had to obey their call, or everyone I loved would suffer and die. I had to sacrifice myself in order to save them. I tried to move, to go to them and end the suffering, but Sam held me firmly to the ground. I hadn’t even realized that I had collapsed. Holden’s bloody fingers grabbed mine and clutched them. Our joined hands rested on the hard cement in a pool of blood. He’d thrown himself between me and the magically charged sword. The sword wouldn’t have killed him, but the magic could have.

  “Cecil!” Sam yelled.

  The ancient shaman held up his staff and chanted. White light surrounded him. It turned its brightness on the witches, blinding them.

  Hunting Wolf reached down, grabbed the sword in his clawed hand, turned, and hurled it through the air. I watched its sideways spin as it flashed tip to pommel, tip to pommel. It kept going even after it sliced through the witches’ necks. Their faces showed surprise, even as they tumbled from their shoulders to roll across the blood-drenched street.

  My eyes rolled back in my head.

  Chapter Eleven

  Clean sheets were beneath me. I was naked but warm due to the delicious male heat to either side of me. Opening my eyes, I blinked and focused.

  “I told you to stay inside.” Hunting Wolf frowned down at me.

  “You really should have stayed inside,” Sam said from my other side where he was laying on his back with an arm behind his head.

  I groaned. They kept me still with their hands covering my healed stomach until I had explained the reason for my willful disobedience.

  “Is Holden okay?”

  “He’s fine. It would take more than a little poke to kill him,” Sam said.

  “A little poke? A magically infused skewering is more than a poke. He saved me. Holden leapt in front of me to save me. And, you.” I stared up into Hunting Wolf’s eyes. “You were so brave and ferocious.”

  “What else would you expect from me?” His tone was smug, but his eyes sparkled humorously.

  Once they were satisfied with my recount of what had happened, we dressed and went downstairs in search of food. The witches were dead, but there was more to the story which I had yet to learn. I decided it could wait. Someone had gotten the generator up and running, but the town’s power supply had been fried in the witches’ attack. Apparently, everyone was gathering to discuss what had occurred in the restaurant. The chef
had been busy cooking everything perishable for those of us who remained to eat, and he’d baked what he could to sustain us for the trip. The people who didn’t have too much to pack had already left with a few guides for Silver Springs. I was eager to follow them. In the restaurant, Holden waited for us at a table. He was clean with no signs of injury. In fact, the wolves we had walked by all appeared to be recovered, even if all of us were moving a little slower. As soon as we were seated, a waitress filled our coffee cups.

  Concerned, I gave my attention to him, and when he made no move to stop me, I lifted his shirt. Smooth, unblemished skin covered rippling abdominal muscles. “Like what you see, sweetheart?” Staring into his eyes, something unspoken passed between us.

  “Are you just going to act like none of that happened?” I asked. His eyes told me a different story. He’d been protecting me, his mate, and he’d do it again without thinking.

  So that no one else could hear, he asked, “Would it make you happy if I tried to pretend it didn’t happen?” Louder he said, “What’s there to say about it? Witches be crazy.” Holden and everyone else laughed, even Sam. He didn’t say anything else.

  Observing the men who were gathered, I said, “They sure are in high spirits, all things considered.”

  Loudly enough to be heard over the room, Dunstan said, “I guess when our alpha isn’t ornery, snarling, and fighting mad, things tend to lighten up. I’ve known him for decades and not once in all of that time has he been in such a continuous good mood.” The men at his table laughed along with him. “Rub his belly some more. I think he likes it.”

  My heart sank as dread and fear filled it. Hunting Wolf, Sam, and Colby didn’t know what had happened between us, or did they? I hadn’t spoken of it, but I’d been intimate with Holden of all people in their absence. His pack knew. All of them knew. Were they ridiculing my husbands as cuckolds? What would they think of me? My eyes filled with uncontrollable tears as shame filled my heart. Practically the moment my husbands had left, I’d been unfaithful. Everyone had stopped eating. They had stopped everything. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the hard clenching of Colby’s jaw. He was furious.

  “You and I need to have a talk,” he said to Holden. The two of them glared at each other.

  It felt like my heart was being shredded, and I’d done it to myself. Not knowing what to do, I took the coward’s way out, and I ran. I didn’t run upstairs. I ran for the doors and kept going, pulling on my Wendigo and increasing my speed, placing a foot against the wall, and leaping over the man on guard who looked as if he planned to stop me. Once my feet hit the cement outside, I ran as hard and as fast as I could. Sharp pains stabbed my sides, and I felt like I deserved the pain. What had I done? What had I been thinking? I hadn’t been thinking. Hadn’t they known what would happen, leaving us alone together? They’d seen what had happened around Holden every time I had assumed Elizabeth’s form. My breathing had turned ragged, and it turned white in the cold winter air. I slowed to a walk. I’d put so much distance between myself and the hotel that I couldn’t even see it. What should I do? Did it even matter? I was a liar. I’d broken the vows that I’d only just made. Crumpling to the ground beneath a tree, I lowered my face to my knees and gave into the hard, shuddering sobs which were ripping free from my heart.

  I’d had everything and thrown it all away. I was no better than the bitch, Madam Bovary, who I’d hated so much that I hadn’t finished the book. Why hadn’t everything been enough for me? They would never forgive me. Someone sat beside me, but I was too afraid to look. I couldn’t take seeing the hurt my betrayal had caused, but it was unavoidable because I was quickly surrounded.

  “Please, don’t cry, Honey,” Sam said. He placed his hands on my arms and pulled me onto his lap where I hid my face against his chest and cried harder.

  “I betrayed you. I’m s-s-so sorry. I’m garbage. I’m just garbage.”

  Sternly, he said, “Don’t you ever say anything like that about yourself ever again. This was a fight you never could have won.”

  “I should have been better. I should have let it drive me crazy. I love you, but I betrayed you.”

  Angrily, Sam said, “This is all your fault, Colby. What the hell is wrong with you? We knew what had to happen. It couldn’t be helped.”

  “It’s all my fault. I’m the one who took her in the first place,” Holden quietly admitted.

  “True, but it’s pointless to dwell in the past,” Hunting Wolf said.

  Colby spoke up. “I couldn’t help it. I smelled his scent on her and did everything I could not to lose my shit. It was an instinct to fight him for trying to steal my mate.”

  “She’s not just yours. She’s our female, and she’s crying.” Sam was pissed.

  “She’s crying like a baby. She’s probably hungry. Maybe, if we shove food in her mouth she’ll stop,” Holden suggested. “Ya want a nipple to suck on, ya little baby?” He used the dumbest baby talk I’d ever heard.

  Shaking with suppressed sobs, I lifted my face from Sam to glare at the asshole. Holden grinned. He’d said the shit on purpose to get me to stop crying. Hunting Wolf took my arm from Sam’s shoulder, growled, and nibbled at it. He wanted me to laugh, but I couldn’t. “Don’t you hate me?” He blurred as my eyes filled.

  “No, I love you, and there is nothing to forgive.”

  “How can you say that after what I’ve done?”

  “You have done nothing which could ever come close to the sins for which I have been forgiven, Rozene. You heal the hearts of angry beasts who parade as men, but I sensed last night that something within you has been healed by a beast as well. What has changed about you?”

  I looked from his eyes, to Sam’s, and then to Colby’s.

  “I didn’t mean to make you cry, Rosie.” Colby tugged me onto his lap and rubbed circles on my back. “It’s alright, baby.” He kissed my head.

  “Rozene, what has changed?” Hunting Wolf asked again. He was genuinely curious. I realized that I must have shifted last night after being injured. He hadn’t seen the blending of my Wendigo and werewolf.

  “Go on. Show them,” Holden prompted.

  Hunting Wolf stood and held his hands down to me. Standing before him and looking into his eyes, I slid into my Wendigo. He gazed into my eyes which now matched his. Slowly, he stripped the torn, bloody clothing I had worn the night before from me, examining my naked form, lifting my clawed hands, and slowly walking around me. Sam and Colby stood and gaped at me.

  “Where’s Elizabeth?” Colby asked.

  “She’s gone, but I still sense her form. She’s like a book I’ve read and remember but have put on a shelf.”

  “Call it to you,” Hunting Wolf said.

  It required considerable concentration, but I managed to call her forth. Her black hair tumbled around me.

  “Can you sense any other forms?”

  “Yes, night hunters and crows,” I admitted. “I hadn’t sensed them before.” I didn’t mention the witch, but she was there, too.

  “Take the form of a night hunter.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes.” He nodded.

  “What if I’m a bloodthirsty, evil monster?” Thinking about what the vile creatures could do, I cringed. “Can the night hunter influence me the way Elizabeth did?”

  “Trust me.” His long black hair blew toward me.

  “You won’t let me hurt anyone?”

  “I promise.” Seeing my hesitance, he took my hands. “It will be as it is now in Elizabeth’s form. Watch and do not fear me.” He shimmered, becoming transparent before solidifying as a nightmarish night hunter.

  My hands trembled in the clawed hands holding them, but he retained the form and patiently waited for me to assume the same one. Even from within the ghoulish body, I sensed he was still the man I loved. Swallowing against the dry lump in my throat, I concentrated on one of the night hunters in the strange catalogue of beings which occupied a previously unused section of my mind. I slip
ped into another skin. Hunting Wolf shimmered and reappeared at my feet as a large black crow. It looked up at me and cocked its head from side to side, waiting. The putrid flesh of the night hunter left me, replaced by glossy black feathers. I flapped my wings as if they were arms and watched them as they moved before looking down at my bird feet. My laughter came out as squawks as I picked them up and down. The crow before me shimmered. I cocked my head from side to side, trying to figure out how he had turned into a blue tree. Quickly, I became distracted by a world full of vibrant colors that I’d never before seen or ever imagined. Everything within my sight was beautifully stunning. Turning my head to gaze up at the blue tree, I realized I was looking at blue jeans and saw Hunting Wolf’s smiling face looking down at me. I shimmered back into my human form.

  “I am proud of you, Rozene. Our brothers will be proud of you.” He threw his head back and laughed. Then, he picked me up and tossed me into the air. After catching me, he turned in circles until I was dizzy.

  Sam said, “That was incredible.”

  “When did this happen?” Colby asked.

  I met Holden’s eyes and quickly looked away. “Um….”

  “I see,” Sam said. “What Cecil suggested was true.”

  I shook my head and tried to look them in their eyes but failed. I whispered, “To be whole, I need Holden. He and Hunting Wolf seemed to have been responsible in equal parts for my transformation.”

  Happily plucking me from my feet and into his arms, Hunting Wolf said, “Holden is right about at least one thing. We need to eat.” He kissed me loudly on the lips while he walked.

  “Rosie sure did run far from the hotel. We’d get back there a lot faster ourselves if we ran. I’ll race ya,” Colby said to Hunting Wolf.