Blood Ties: The First (A Bane Pack Novel)
Part Four: War b

Kendra sniffed the air in frenzied, panicked jerks. Her mind was flooded with worry and a healthy dose of anger too.

What the hell are they doing here? she asked herself, but didn’t have a clue. And why the hell was Felix spying on me?

Things had moved so fast since yesterday night when she first got her tattoo. Her entire life, her entire world, was imploding around her like a collapsing star. Her emotions were wildly out of sync and she questioned her sanity more times than she cared to admit, even to herself. And now, on top of all that, Jenna was out in the woods somewhere with their doorman and one of them was bleeding.

Her instincts suddenly screamed a warning at her. She whirled abruptly. The nails on her left hand lengthened into claws. Her arm whipped out and she held them an inch or so away from Conor’s throat.

“Relax,” Conor said, hands in the air. “It’s just me.”

“Why’d you follow me? When I left, I thought I made it clear to you that I wanted to be left alone. In fact, I even yelled at you to sit back down. Do you not take hints well?”

“I told you it wasn’t a good idea to be out here alone. I followed you to protect you. Merrick is still out there, and he’s just one of the many, many things that would be happy to try and kill you,” he stated, hoping he was scaring her. If she was frightened enough, then she might come back to the mansion.

“I can handle myself,” she responded. For the first time in her life, she meant it too. The power she felt inside her brought with it all kinds of useful side effects. She felt confident and strong. She felt invincible. She felt…good.

“You think you can, and maybe you’re right, but I would feel better if you stayed with us. Despite what you might think, you are safer at the mansion.”

“You mean where Merrick just strolled in and killed one of my…your…wolves?”

He didn’t have a response to that.

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” she said. “My friend is out here in these woods and from the smell, her or the doorman at my building, is hurt.”

“Doorman?” Conor questioned. His eyes suddenly took on a hard glint. “Hispanic guy? A little shorter than me? And are you talking about Jenna Bishop?”

“Uh…yeah. Do you know Felix? I mean, Jenna has a certain celebrity status in the city so that doesn’t surprise me, but how do you know the doorman?” she asked.

“Shit!” he yelled. “Are you sure those two are the ones you smelled?”

“Yeah. Why?” she was getting really annoyed now.

Conor sniffed at the air and walked around the clearing. He came to the spot where Jenna and Felix had been crouching and looking at the mansion. Then he tracked the scents over to another spot and caught a new smell. He recognized it immediately.

“Deanna.” He let out a growl. Then he shifted and ran off into the woods, following the same path that Deanna had taken.

“Conor!” Kendra yelled, but it was too late.

He might not be able to shift into a complete wolf form, but Conor was still incredibly fast.

“Damn it! Where are you going?”

Kendra ran after him for a bit, but it was apparent she wasn’t catching up to him in her human form. She slipped out of her clothes, shifted herself, and then followed after him, reveling in the fact that she was able to let her wolf loose again.

It wasn’t hard to catch up. The problem was that he wouldn’t shift back or stop running, which meant she couldn’t shift back and stop running to ask him what the hell was going on. The only thing she could do was continue to run next to him and hope he stopped soon.

He did, a few times, but it was just to sniff at the air for a brief second to make sure he was still on the right track.

Finally, he stopped for good. He shifted back to his human form and peered through the trees at a small, rundown building with a chainlink fence surrounding it. She wasn’t sure what it was for, but she thought it might be where technicians went to do routine maintenance work on the powerlines that ran through the forest.

She shifted back to her human form, forgot she was completely naked, and blushed deep red. On top of that, she was freezing. Conor, ever the gentleman, quickly turned his head away from her and offered her his coat.

“Thanks,” she mumbled as she slipped into the warm, fleece lined coat. It didn’t do a whole lot to blunt the cold, but it was better than nothing. And she wasn’t naked anymore. “What’s going on?”

“Jenna Bishop and the doorman, Felix Covas, belong to a very ancient sect of the Knights Templar called the Defaeco.”

“Sounds cool,” Kendra replied, not really seeing where this was going.

“Not really. Defaeco is a Latin term that means to purge or to cleanse. I’ll give you three guesses as to what they purge,” he said.

“Monsters,” Kendra whispered, shocked. “That can’t be right though. Jenna’s the nicest person I’ve ever met. Are you sure?”

He nodded his head.

“Merle knew Elijah Bishop. They had a sort of …agreement,” he explained. “When your father found out you were roommates with his daughter, he was furious, but Elijah said it was for the best. He said he would make sure Jenna protected you and Merle went along with it.”

“What?” she asked, confused. “Why would Elijah protect me and if he’s one of these Defaeco Knights, then why would he even talk to Merle. None of that makes any sense.”

“I don’t know the details of their conversations or their agreements. Merle never told me why he was letting Elijah protect you, I just know he was,” Conor whispered, keeping his voice low. “What I do know is that we have a treaty with the Knights. We don’t hunt humans and we stay out of their way. But that’s all changed now that Deanna’s kidnapped Jenna Bishop and her mage.”

“Who is Deanna?” Kendra asked, afraid to know the answer.

“Deanna Shade is a werewolf. She’s Deirdre’s twin sister and one of our pack,” Conor told her. “If Elijah finds out what she’s done, he’ll bring the entire power of the Knights down on us. It’ll mean war.”

| | | | |

Deanna slid through the woods with liquid ease, despite the fact that she neglected to change into her wolf form. Sometimes, she just enjoyed a nice little run through the woods. Besides, it was hard to carry boots and a bloodied strip of cloth if you didn’t have hands or pockets. So she was in her human form, running.

And thinking.

Mostly, she was thinking of Jenna. She was such a sweet, fiery girl. She would be a lot of fun when the time came to end her. The mage might throw some magic at her, but ultimately, he was inexperienced. Her partner gave her that bit of info on Felix, but more than that, she could sense it. She sensed how green he was in their fight earlier. Although, she admitted to herself, he was incredibly strong. Insanely so, it seemed to her. She would have to be a little careful with him. Jenna, on the other hand, knew how to handle herself. She knew how to fight. That was going to make her so much fun to hunt. To sink her fangs into and just rip apart.

She hadn’t expected the fight with her earlier today. She had been too eager to taste blood again and hadn’t realized who she was dealing with. But it had been a good kind of surprise. So many humans just run. That’s it. They run and then she hunts them. She enjoys their fear. Oh yes. That’s part of the high. Part of the blood hunger. But ultimately, they’re too easy. She hunts and they fall. There’s hardly any sport in it for her.

There’s no fun.

With Jenna, it will be different.

She pushed herself to go faster and soon she came to the clearing overlooking the mansion. Scents overwhelmed her nostrils, but she ignored them. She wanted to be done with this part so she could get back to her prizes.

She went to the spots where Jenna and Felix had been hiding. She could still smell their presence there. Jenna’s was a bit like cotton candy. Felix’s was sourer, and filled with the sharp tang of fear. It hung over his spot like a cloud.

Deanna took the bloodied cloth and laid it on the grass near where Jenna had been. Then she laid the boots down. She stood back up and slid out of the clothes she stole from the boutique. She took off each article of clothing and folded them neatly, placing them under a large bush so they weren’t noticeable. Then she shifted. She went over to the boots, gripped them gently with her mouth and then loped down to the mansion.

She was careful.

She knew they would be on high alert after their confrontation with Merrick. As she came down the rise, she spotted four wolves patrolling the perimeter. She had enough time to mark each one’s progress and slip in between the gaps they left. She bounded onto the wall and raced along it, making sure to do this part quickly while staying away from motion sensors and cameras. If anyone saw her, the game was over.

No one did.

All of the wolves inside were with each other (except for the ones patrolling the outer walls). They were still healing and still struggling with the death of one of their own.

Deanna didn’t know Merrick killed Patrick, and wouldn’t have cared if she had. What she did care about was her good fortune that she was able to use their grief against them.

She continued racing across the wall until she got to a section that was the closest to the mansion. She looked up, gauging distances. The roof seemed a long way off, twenty (maybe thirty) feet. Deanna let out a dog-like whuff and then prepared herself. She felt the muscles in her legs and haunches bunch, felt the power there. She focused on where she wanted to land and then jumped. She soared through the air and landed with graceful stillness on the roof. She scrabbled for a moment to find purchase. There were loud, scratchy sounds that filled the air for a split second. Immediately she shifted back to her human form, making sure not to drop the boots, and hid. She heard the patrolling werewolves a moment later.

They were sniffing around. One of them, she could see, was looking up at the wall and then to the top of the roof. She stilled her breathing and crouched down a little more. She took deep breaths to steady her pounding heart.

After what seemed like forever, the little gang of wolves broke off from each other and they went their separate ways so they could patrol the perimeter again. Deanna allowed herself a brief sigh of relief and then crept across the roof. The part she jumped onto had been angled, making it a poor choice for what she needed. She finally got to a part that was flat and level. She jumped over to it and crouched down. She hid the boots in a patch of shadow and got back up. She crawled over to the section of roof she had landed on, and then shifted back into her wolf form. She waited for an opening, found one and then jumped. She landed for a second on the wall, but the moment her paws touched the surface, she was jumping again, this time straight into the woods.

She disappeared into them, the darkness swallowing her.

| | | | |

“Where is she?” Elijah roared, his face almost completely red. The two men in front of him, guards that he’d sent to his daughter’s apartment to make sure she wasn’t attacked again, looked shamefaced and guilty. They stared at each other with puzzled expressions.

“She’s not in there?” one of them asked. He was as lanky as he was tall, with shaggy black hair and bushy eyebrows that seemed to crawl along his forehead. He wilted underneath Elijah’s steady, angry eyes.

Elijah uttered one single, disgusted sound, dismissed both guards and headed into Jenna’s apartment. He walked into the spacious kitchen and stood there for a moment, looking around. He could still smell the fresh paint and plaster on the walls, but otherwise, everything was in order. You would’ve never been able to tell that a battle with a werewolf had taken place only a few hours ago.

He continued on, into the rest of the apartment. He bypassed Jenna’s room and instead entered Kendra’s. Discarded clothes still lay across her bed and floor. Everything else seemed to be immaculately neat and clean. He expected nothing less. Kendra’s office was always compulsively ordered.

He went to her dresser but found nothing on it but a flat screen TV and a Blu-Ray player. He went to the mirrored vanity in the corner next. On top of this was all of Kendra’s makeup. Again, everything was completely ordered, almost cataloged really. He turned away from the vanity and went to a series of shelves that were staggered diagonally on the wall to the right of her bed. Framed pictures took up all of the space there. There were two pictures with Kendra in a cap and gown, one of her high school graduation and the other of her college graduation. In her high school one, she was alone, barely smiling. Her eyes held a kind of sadness in them. In the college graduation photo, she was pictured with Jenna, both with their arms around each other. Both of them looked happy, with big smiles on their faces. Elijah, however, could still see that sadness lurking inside Kendra’s eyes. On the surface, she looked happy, but there was no hiding the pain she’d been through.

His attention went to the next picture in line. This one was of Kendra and a bearish man with iron colored hair. The lower half of his face was littered with a couple days’ worth of white stubble. Both of them were smiling big, and in the background he could see dozens of artwork hung on the walls, faint but unmistakable. This picture he picked up and looked at more closely. A surge of anger ripped through him as he looked at the man. His fingers clutched the frame, digging in. He could hear the glass grinding against the wood, but it was dim, far away. The only thing he truly noticed was that face, that man. The world spun away from him and he was lost in a tide of emotions and memories that he thought he buried a long time ago.

There was a sharp, splintery snap that brought Elijah back to the present. He looked at his hand with a distant, unfocused gaze, barely registering the crack that went through the pane of glass in the picture frame. It zig-zagged completely through the man’s face.

For years the girl had been untouched, untainted. Now all of that was lost, despite the promises he made. Despite the distasteful allegiances he’d had to make.

He roared out his frustration as he threw the damn picture against the wall. He heard it shatter but didn’t care. He turned away from where it lay on the ground. He took a few deep breaths and tried to shove all his emotions and old memories away.

He took one more look around, ignoring the broken picture frame on the ground next to the room’s door, and then left. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Jenna’s number. It rang for a couple minutes and then went to voicemail. He heard his daughter’s cheery message and then cut the call, not leaving a message of his own. It would either be ignored, or heard by a party he wasn’t willing to let hear his voice. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration, messing it up.

He felt completely useless right now and that frustrated him even more. He was always in control, always had a carefully laid out plan.

But things were different now.

His plans were spinning wildly out of control.

| | | | |

Back in the clearing on top of the rise that overlooked the mansion, a bright wash of flame suddenly flared into being. When it dissipated, a figure could be seen. His name was Jonah Washburn. He was a mage and Elijah’s partner for the past thirty-one years. His white hair gleamed in the moonlight that filtered through the clearing and his faded green eyes scanned the area. He was looking for any signs at all of Jenna and Felix.

Elijah had sent him there after finding his daughter and her mage missing from her apartment.

He knew of the clearing. Nearly every Knight and mage did. It was a popular place to go where they could watch the wolves without being seen. They went their to make sure they weren’t doing anything that endangered humans. He figured Jenna would’ve been here, trying to find Kendra. She would’ve dragged Felix there as well.

“What happened to you two?” he asked himself. He walked to the spot that afforded the best view of the mansion and knelt there.

At first he didn’t see anything. He continued looking for signs of their presence for about ten minutes before he found something. His eyes almost went right past it. He reached out a hand and carefully picked the item up, bringing it closer to his face so he could examine it. His stomach dropped a bit. It was a piece of bloodied cloth and obviously torn from Jenna’s shirt.

The blood stains on it were still slightly wet, so she hadn’t been taken all that long ago. The evidence, however, wasn’t looking good.

Eli was going to be furious when he found out what happened to his only child. He imagined the events that would come next.

And a slow, twisted smile appeared on his lips.

He got up and turned to look at the mansion again.

“Soon, now,” he said.

Then flames swirled around him. When they dissipated, Jonah was gone. Nothing but grey tendrils of smoke and a charred circle in the grass was left.

| | | | |

Elijah glanced at his watch. He was nervous, angry, impatient, and highly irritable. He was sitting down on the girls’ sofa now, the TV in front of him was dark and silent. His foot tapped incessantly on the floor. He’d been waiting like that for close to thirty minutes, hoping Jonah would come back with Jenna and Felix. He couldn’t take it anymore. His impatience finally got the better of him.

He rose, heading to the door. He wasn’t waiting in their apartment anymore. He was going to find his daughter, Kendra, and Felix.

Just as he was turning the doorknob, a flames suddenly flared across his back and neck. There was a flash of red-orange light and then the faint smell of something burning. He turned around and found Jonah standing there. There were tendrils of smoke curling up toward the ceiling. Jonah wasn’t very tall. He was barely average height, but there was always an air of poise about him, as if he were perpetually off to some ritzy party. His nearly white hair was cut short. A trim little goatee surrounded his mouth and his face was aged with soft grooves and wrinkles.

He peered at Elijah, his mouth set in a stern, hard line.

“Have you found her yet?” Elijah asked.

“Only this,” Jonah responded.

He shifted slightly, reaching into his pocket. He drew out a tattered bit of cloth. Darkening its middle was a splotch of brownish red. He held it out. Elijah’s heart pounded uncomfortably in his chest as he stared at it, causing his head to throb and pulse. He reached out a shaking hand and took the bit of cloth. He turned it over and over, looking at it so intensely that it gave him a headache. He wanted to deny what his eyes saw, but he couldn’t. The cloth he held, with the bloodstain soaking the middle, had been torn from the shirt Jenna was wearing before she disappeared.

“I found it in the woods overlooking the mansion, Eli. I know how concerned Jenna is with protecting Kendra. I thought I would find her there, but it appears I was too late.”

Elijah cursed and shoved the bit of cloth into his pocket. He looked at Jonah.

“Did they take her?” he asked.

“I wasn’t able to verify that, but it would seem so,” Jonah returned.

“And Kendra?”

“I couldn’t be sure, but yes, I think she was in the mansion as well,” Jonah answered, his face grim.

Elijah was silent for a long time. Jonah watched him carefully, studying his features for telling signs of what the man was thinking. Finally, Elijah pulled out his cellphone and dialed a number. If Jenna was in trouble, she would’ve activated the GPS chip in her boot.

The phone rang for a minute and then a tired voice asked, “Hello?”

“Brigit,” Elijah said. He could hear the woman on the other end getting out of bed, becoming more alert.

“Mr. Bishop. Uh…what can I do for you?” she asked, her voice slightly nervous.

“I need you to check for Jenna’s emergency chip. If it’s been activated, I want to know exactly where she is. You have ten minutes.”

He hung up. He wasn’t usually so cold and abrupt with people but it was Jenna. He didn’t have time to be polite. He told himself he would apologize to her later though.

“Eli,” Jonah started, laying a comforting hand on his old friend’s arm.

“No,” he replied, moving his arm away. “Don’t do that. Don’t talk to me like I’m someone that’s just lost a loved one. Jenna’s not dead. I know it.”

The cell in his pocket rang and he answered it.

“Uh…so…,” Brigit fumbled, obviously not wanting to tell the big scary boss the bad news.

“What’s happened, Brigit? Out with it,” Elijah nearly roared.

“Her emergency chip has been activated. It went off forty one minutes ago.”

His blood ran cold.

“Where is she?” he asked, nearly breathless.

“I’m sending you what I have to your mobile. It should be there now,” she responded.

“Keep watching her. If they move her, I want to know about it. Understood?”

“Understood,” she replied and hung up.

Elijah pulled the phone away from his ear and looked at it. His notifications told him he had a new email. He went to it and opened the attachment. What came next was a satellite map of the area around the Bane pack’s mansion. Directly over the building was a red dot.

It meant they had her.

His phone rang again.

“What is it?” he snarled.

“I think you should see this. I traced the chip back to when it was first activated. When that happened, Jenna wasn’t at the mansion. Something’s not right here.”

Brigit hung up before Elijah could ask her what she meant.

He opened up the next file. This one wasn’t just a picture, it was a video. He watched it silently. It showed the same satellite area with the blinking dot, but instead of hovering over the mansion, it was moving toward it. The dot had originated from an area a couple miles distant.

“What’s the matter?” Jonah asked.

“I think someone is trying to play me for a fool,” Elijah said with barely controlled anger.

Jenna did activate her chip but she first did it several miles east of the mansion. Why would she activate it there? If that was where the trouble started, why would she head to the mansion instead of away from it? The only thing he could come up with was that someone had taken her and was trying to make it look like the werewolves were responsible.

“They want me to think the Bane pack has her.” He showed Jonah the video.

“Eli,” Jonah said, “that doesn’t mean anything. They could’ve attacked her there and she ran to the mansion to try and get to Kendra.”

“No. You said that you found that piece of cloth at the clearing, right?”

Jonah nodded.

“She was there first, watching over the mansion. She was probably trying to find a way to get inside so she could get Kendra out. Then someone took her here.” He pointed to the origination point to the east. “After that, they probably took her boots and planted them at the mansion.”

The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. He could almost picture the series of events in his mind.

Jonah was silent.

Elijah turned and looked at him.

“What? You don’t agree?”

“No, on the contrary, you’re exactly right,” Jonah responded, a weird look in his eyes. “I had to reevaluate my plans too quickly. Do you know why I hate being rushed, Eli? Because when you rush, you make mistakes. Obviously I forgot to take into account your rather unique intelligence. I should’ve known you wouldn’t be fooled. You question everything and you never blindly accept the things people show or tell you. My only excuse is that I thought with Jenna being abducted, you would be so overcome with grief and worry you wouldn’t question the evidence.”

“What are you talking about, Jonah?” Elijah asked, but it was just a question to keep him talking. Inwardly, his mind was trying to piece together why his oldest friend betrayed him. Then it came up with dozens of ways he could subdue Jonah and force him to disclose Jenna’s location.

“Don’t.,” Jonah commanded. “If you try anything , I will incinerate you. Nothing is faster than the speed of thought, Eli.”

“If you hurt her,” he said. “I’ll kill you.”

“I know you would, old friend,” Jonah replied. “She is just a prisoner at the moment. She’s the bait.”

“Bait? For what?”

“For you. Her abduction was supposed to force you into a war with those…those beasts. Those monsters! You’ve been blinded these last couple of years. The Bane pack is, and has always been, a threat. I was hoping to prove that to you by having Merrick Bane ascend as Alpha. Once his blood hunger infected the rest, you’d have no choice but to wipe them out. But Kendra…got in the way. She became the newest Alpha instead and I was forced to revise my agenda,” Jonah explained, his voice calm.

“They’ve upheld the treaty,” Elijah responded. He clenched his big hands into fists, their knuckles white. “Why would you do something like this? We don’t kill innocents.”

“Innocents?” Jonah laughed. “They’re monsters! They kill humans. I’ve proven that by corrupting Merrick. It was easy! Child’s play! They want to let the beast take control. All of them do! How is that innocent, Elijah?’

“What have you done?” Elijah asked. He restrained the urge to reach out and strangle Jonah.

“Only what was necessary,” he replied. “Like this.”

Before Elijah could react, Jonah grabbed him. Jonah’s speed was surprising. He placed his hands on either side of Elijah’s head and then his hands glowed.

Elijah screamed.

| | | | |

“Let’s hunt us some werewolves!” Willie yelled as he hefted a crossbow to his shoulder. Thirty other Knights hollered out their approval as well.

“We’ve allowed the Bane pack to exist because they agreed to the treaty and our terms. They have broken that when they kidnapped my daughter.” Elijah said calmly from the front of the room. All around the walls were weapons of every shape and size. Computers and metal tables were abundant and white light flooded it from the overhead fluorescents. The Knights had dubbed it the Prep Room because it’s where they went to prepare for a hunt.

“We’ve pinpointed her location at their mansion. We go there now to get her and Felix back.” Elijah paused for a minute and his face contorted slightly, as if he were in pain. Jonah, standing next to him, placed a hand on his friend’s forearm, as if in sympathy for his plight. Elijah’s blue eyes flashed red for a millisecond but it was too quick for anyone to notice. “We will do so by whatever means necessary.”

The band of Knights in the room all yelled out enthusiastically.

“Suit up and arm yourselves!” Elijah cried, his fist in the air. “We go to war!”

Jonah couldn’t help but smile.

Every Knight present put on state of the art plate armor as well as Kevlar vests underneath. The scientist inside the Defaeco Knighthood had developed some advanced armor that allowed for greater mobility and maneuverability while at the same time protecting them from claws, teeth, fire, knives, bullets and just about everything else you could think of. Over each Knight’s left breast was a red cross with a flame burning in the center. It was an ancient symbol that represented their order and one that each Knight was proud to bear.

When they were finished, and each one had their weapons, they filed out of the room and headed for the line of black SUVs on the street outside of Elijah Bishop’s penthouse apartment.

Jonah and Elijah stayed back and when the last Knight was gone, Elijah turned to Jonah with a slightly blank look on his face.

“Was that acceptable?” he asked. His voice sounded empty and hollow. There were no inflections to it and carried none of Elijah’s usual personality.

“It was…perfect,” Jonah smiled.

Elijah blinked several times. His eyes started pulsing red, but the pulsing was getting slower and slower. Jonah cursed. The strength of Eli’s will was breaking down the spell. He laid his hands on either side of Eli’s head again. They glowed. Elijah grunted in pain. His eyes flashed with a bright, red light for a couple seconds and then it died out.

“Do not try to fight it,” Jonah whispered. “You don’t want to end up like Helen.”

Elijah could feel fire inside his head. It seemed to writhe over his mind, blanketing everything and taking control. Words were dim. Thinking was almost non-existent. The only thing he knew was his instructions. If he didn’t obey, then there would be pain.

But I can’t obey, he thought. Jenna and Kendra need me.

Then he heard Jonah’s last words. They stuck in his mind before the wave of fire completely enveloped his head.

Anger surged through him at the mention of Helen’s name.

I am going to kill you Jonah.

| | | | |

“Okay, so what do we do?” Kendra asked.

Conor and her were still watching the ugly little building. She confirmed that Jenna’s and Felix’s scents led to it. From what she could tell, they were both still in there.

“We have to get them out and back to the Knights. When they see she’s all right, they won’t attack,” Conor explained.

“Is anyone else in there?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I can only smell Deanna’s scent,” he replied. “It wouldn’t make much sense for her to leave Jenna and Felix alone. I would think she’d have some guards.”

“Is this Deanna in there now?” she asked.

“I don’t think so,” he answered. “I smelled a fresher scent of hers before we got in here and it was leading away from this area. I think she might’ve went back to the mansion.”

Kendra got up, brushing pine needles off her bare knees. She started walking toward the building.

“What are you doing?” Conor asked, his voice a harsh whisper.

“Deanna is from our pack, right? I’m her Alpha. She has to obey me. If she’s in there, then I’ll tell her to give us Jenna and Felix back. No problem.”

Before Conor could argue with her plan, she broke into a run and was at the building’s rusted front door. He ran up to her, managing to get there before she actually went inside.

“We don’t know what’s in there,” he tried to tell her.

“My friend is in trouble,” Kendra responded.

She yanked open the door and it squealed obnoxiously. Then they both went inside.

The interior was dark at first. Even with their enhanced vision, it was hard to see. Then all hell broke loose. Red light flooded the dingy room and four figures suddenly blossomed into life. Conor backed up, his heart pounding.

“Fire golems!” he yelled. “I hate those things!”

Kendra stared at the little creatures in confusion. They were about three feet high and seemed to be made completely out of fire. They had pudgy looking abdomens, stubby legs, and their arms ended in bulbous protrusions that spit out fire every second or so. Two huge, glowing yellow eyes sat in the middle of their round heads and not one of them had any mouths or noses.

“What are these things?” she asked. She tried to reach out and touch one, but it spit fire at her and singed her hand. “Ow!” she cried.

“A fire mage must’ve been here,” he said. She could hear the obvious confusion in his voice. “That means Deanna is working with the Knights. Or the mage is working his own goals and recruited Deanna. I’m not sure.”

“A fire mage?” she asked, backing up quickly to avoid another burn as one of the golems moved toward her.

“Every Knight has a mage partner. Every mage has power over a particular element. Earth, fire, water, wind. This one is obviously a fire mage. He’s set up the golems as a defense against anyone trying to rescue your friends.”

“So how do we stop them?” she asked.

“Uh…well, that’s sort of the tricky part. They’re unstoppable,” he said.

“Something has to be able to kill them,” she yelled, frantic now. The golems were converging on them.

“The golems are made from pure magic. They’ll burn until the connection to the mage that created them is lost or another mage reconverts their energy into something else.”

“You said Felix was a mage, right?” she asked, setting aside the grudge she had with the both of them for lying to her for so long.

“Yes, yes!” Conor exclaimed. He jumped as a mini-fireball landed on the cuff of his pants. He reached a hand down and quickly stamped the growing fire out. “We need to get to him. He can take care of these things.”

Kendra looked around hurriedly. She found a door across the room. The only problem was that the golems were between her and it. They were so close now that she could feel their heat baking her exposed skin.

“Okay,” she said to herself. “I can do this. I can do this.”

She jumped with everything she had. She sailed over the golems and landed on the floor behind them. Two of them immediately turned around and started coming at her while the other two kept trying to corner Conor.

She ran to the door and tried the handle.

It was locked.

| | | | |

“How long have we been in here?” Felix groaned. He was sitting with his back to a wall, his legs splayed out in front of him. Jenna was pacing the room in endless circuits, refusing to let herself give up. She kept looking for a way out, but the only way out was the door and it was locked tight. There were no windows. There were no other ways in or out.

“I don’t know. A couple minutes maybe. Hours,” she replied, barely looking at him. “I don’t have a watch.”

“Why don’t you sit down and get some rest. You pacing around like that is making me jumpy,” Felix told her.

She glared at him. “No thanks. Sitting around in self-pity isn’t going to get us a way out of here.”

Felix didn’t respond.

She went back to her pacing. More time went by. Then she heard voices, followed by shouting.

She ran to the door and put her ear to it.

“What is it?” Felix asked. “Who’s out there?”

“I don’t know.”

They waited like that for a few more minutes, and then the handle started jostling.

“Jenna?” a voice asked. “Jenna, are you in there? Is Felix with you?”

Jenna let herself feel hope. The voice was unmistakably Kendra’s.

| | | | |

“Jenna?” Kendra shouted. She looked behind her. The golems were chasing Conor around and he was madly trying to get out of their way. The two after her were nearly within touching distance. She imagined her flesh burning and she shuddered with fear. “Jenna, are you in there? Is Felix with you?”

Muffled voices came from the other side.

“Good enough for me,” she said to herself.

She grabbed the handle in both hands. With an enormous burst of strength she ripped it off the door. She heard the handle on the other side clatter to the floor and then the door was open. Jenna burst out, her usually perfect blonde hair was mussed and matted with sweat. Felix followed after her, looking equally disheveled.

She ignored Jenna for the moment, although she felt an enormous wave of relief at knowing her friend was okay.

“Take care of those things,” she commanded Felix. He looked around her and saw the approaching golems.

“Fire golems?” he asked, confused.

“Yes, fire golems. Now do something about them before they kill us!”

“Right, right,” Felix muttered.

He stepped around her. His body went stiff and rigid and he closed his eyes. Kendra saw him drawing in deep, soothing breaths. When he opened his eyes again, they were electric blue. He waved his hand in the air and four cyclones, each one about the same height as the golems, appeared in the room. Now it was the fire golems running madly about, each one trying to get out of a raging cyclone’s path.

They didn’t last long. One cyclone caught up to a fire golem and engulfed it. There was a bright flash of light and then both cyclone and golem were gone. The other three golems lasted for a couple more seconds before they were engulfed and destroyed too.

Kendra breathed easier. Conor walked over to join them. He had burn marks on his forearms and several holes burned through his pants.

She turned to Jenna, pulling Conor’s coat tighter around her body. Her legs were cold.

“So, anything you want to tell me about?” she asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She turned an icy glare on Felix too, and he hurriedly looked away. She could see his face blushing and she realized he’d been staring at her exposed legs.

“Anything you want to tell me?” Jenna asked. She tugged at Kendra’s coat, exposing the tattoo a little more.

“To be fair, you were a Knight way before I was a werewolf, so who is more wrong here?” Kendra asked, but she smiled. Her relief at seeing Jenna whole and safe finally broke apart her anger and she hugged her. Jenna hugged back.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” Jenna said. “I didn’t really know how to and my dad said it was safer for you if you didn’t know.”

“Your dad knows about me?” she asked.

“He knew who your father was. They were both trying to keep you away from that life. I guess things didn’t really work out though,” Jenna said. She eyed the tattoo again.

“Keep me away from that life?” Kendra asked, confused. “I don’t understand.”

“It’s hard to explain,” Jenna told her. “And here is probably not the place to get into it.”

“What happened to you?” Kendra asked.

“I came to the mansion to get you. A werewolf knocked us out and took us here. Then she took my boots. It had a tracking chip in it that I activated. My guess is that she’s trying to frame your pack for my abduction.”

“Her name’s Deanna Shade. She’s working outside of our pack’s knowledge,” Conor said. “I’m Conor…”

“I know who you are, Conor,” Jenna cut him off. “What I want to know is why you’re here with Kendra.” Her voice was ice cold and she looked like she wanted to kill him.

“He saved my life, Jenna,” Kendra told her, but Jenna didn’t seem to care. She was practically shooting daggers at the man.

“He’s a killer,” Felix chimed in. “We’ve been trying to find him for months now.”

His eyes glowed bright blue again and Jenna’s body language became something wary, like she was preparing herself for a fight.

“Stop, both of you,” Kendra yelled. “He told me about that and he regrets what happened. He’s one of my pack now. I won’t let you hurt him.”

Kendra’s eyes glowed amber for a moment. Jenna and Felix looked startled.

“Your pack?” she asked.

Kendra showed them the Alpha mark.

“My brother, Merrick, severely wounded Merle earlier. He wasn’t going to make it. Both Merle and Conor made me,” she paused, looking a little sick, “finish him off.”

Jenna was quiet for a long time. Kendra could tell she wasn’t taking the news well.

All of sudden, she jumped at Conor, trying to bear him to the floor. Kendra and Felix stepped in first, hauling her back.

“You son of a bitch!” she yelled. “I’ll kill you.”

“We didn’t have a choice,” Conor tried to explain. Jenna wasn’t having any of it though. She spit at him.

“Stop it, Jenna,” Kendra said. “Everything’s fine.”

“No, it’s not. That bastard put a target on your back,” she roared.

Confused, Kendra looked at Conor.

“What’s she talking about?”

“I told you, our pack hunts and kills monsters. The worst and strongest of them have been known to retaliate in the past. Especially against Merle. There’ve been a few attempts on his life.”

Jenna laughed, the sound harsh and mocking.

“A few a day you mean.” She gave Conor a disgusted look and then stalked off.

“It’s another reason why he wanted to keep you hidden away. If they found out about you, they would’ve tried to hurt you,” Conor went on.

“And now that I’ve taken my father’s place, they’ll come after me?” she asked.

“Yes.”

Surprisingly, she wasn’t angry about the news. It explained why Merle hadn’t claimed her and why he didn’t rescue her from the orphanage. It didn’t make all her anger towards him go away, but it helped a little.

“Okay, I vote this info isn’t important right now. What is important is that the Knights will be coming. We need to get Jenna and Felix to the mansion and try to stop this war before things get out of hand,” she said. “Can we all agree on that?”

Conor nodded.

Felix did too.

Jenna walked over, still angry, but she agreed too. She looked at Conor. “This isn’t over.”

They all walked back outside. Conor led the way back to the mansion, the others following behind him.

| | | | |

A long line of black SUVs turned onto a hidden drive and up to a big iron gate. The first in the line stopped a foot or so from the gate. Next to it, embedded into the brick wall was a console with a small screen in it. Beneath that was a numbered keypad.

The screen blinked to life, showing an older man with white hair.

“This is private property. Turn around and I won’t call the police,” he said.

Elijah rolled his window down, a gun pointed at the screen.

“I’ve come for my daughter,” he said and then pulled the trigger. The box exploded into sparks. “Take care of the gate,” he ordered the Knight riding in the back seat. It was Natalie Paxton. Her dark eyes flashed in understanding. She reached behind her, into the trunk, and pulled out a ridiculously huge bazooka.

Elijah backed the car up to a safe distance, the rest of the SUVs following suit, and pushed a button next to the steering wheel. The moon roof slid open, letting in a blast of cold air. Natalie stood up and carefully aimed the bazooka at the gates. She pulled the trigger.

There was a whistling shriek, followed by a huge detonation of sound and light. When the smoke cleared, the gates were nothing but ruined metal lying several yards away. Shattered bits of brick came raining down and clattered down on the roof and hood of the SUV.

Natalie sat back down and Elijah rolled his window up.

“Remember,” Jonah said from the passenger seat. “By whatever means necessary.”

Elijah nodded, the motion wooden, and drove on. The tires crunched over the debris, but he kept going. Behind them, the other SUVs followed.

They rolled up to the circular drive. The fountain in its center was still lit and flowing.

Elijah, Jonah, and Natalie got out of the car, using it as a barrier in case any of the werewolves attacked. Elijah could hear car doors opening and closing. There was some shuffling around and then silence. The Knights and mages were waiting for him to give the order to move.

The front doors suddenly opened and a figure stepped out. It was clearly the same man that had been on the security feed.

“No one here has broken the treaty,” he yelled. “Get back in your cars and drive away. I’ll make sure this transgression is dropped and forgotten. This is your last chance.”

Elijah’s anger boiled over.

They have Jenna and yet they mock me by saying they haven’t broken the treaty, he thought.

“Bring out my daughter,” he yelled back. “Bring her and the mage out now and your deaths will be painless. That’s the only promise I’m willing to make with your kind.”

“We don’t have a Knight or a mage,” he yelled back.

Elijah couldn’t stand it anymore. He stood up, rising to his full height. His gun was pointed at the figure. He fired. The sound was loud and seemed to echo for a bit. The other Knights took that as their cue and fired as well. The werewolf jerked a couple of times. He took a bullet high in his right shoulder and a couple others to his torso and legs. He crouched down, his eyes flashing amber fire. Then he ducked back into the mansion, the door slamming shut behind him.

“Take your team around back Willie. Find a way in,” he ordered.

Willie Stiles gave him a nod and rounded up his team. They walked off. The Knights held guns at the ready while three mages had various forms of energy crackling around them. They made almost no noise. In a few moments, they vanished into the shadows.

“The rest of you, with me.”

He made his way up to the doors. Jonah and Natalie were next to him. The other Knights were scattered around. Next to them were a handful of mages. Lightning crackled. The earth shook. The wind picked up. The water in the fountain gurgled and sprang to life. Several random fires broke out.

Elijah turned back to the door. He wasn’t surprised to find it locked. He nodded to Jonah, who settled in next to Elijah and laid a finger on the handle’s metal plate.

It immediately began to glow red. A second or so later, it started to run in long drips. Jonah released the magic and nodded at Elijah.

Elijah held up three fingers, slowly lowering each one. When the last one disappeared into his fist, he kicked the door open and ran inside.

He was met with three snarling, vicious werewolves.

He didn’t hesitate. He raised a gun and fired off calm, measured shots. Two of the werewolves howled in pain but he missed the third. It roared and jumped at him. He watched it come, aiming his weapon at the creature, but before he could fire, a different werewolf attacked. This one came at him from the side, where it had been hiding in a secluded and shadowed alcove.

His heart sped up. He dove to the side, but he wasn’t fast enough. It landed on him, its enormous weight nearly crushing him. His armor protected him from the thing’s claws, but it was too heavy. He was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe.

He stared at the werewolf’s luminous amber eyes. Its muzzle dripped saliva onto his chest. Then its massive head darted forward, its maw opened wide. Elijah stuck his forearm up and wedged it into the thing’s mouth. The teeth slammed down on his armored limb and grated against the metal plates there.

He lost his gun when he’d hit the floor, but he still had a twelve inch dagger in a scabbard on his hip. He reached his left hand down and tried to pull it free. The werewolf seemed to know what he was doing and slammed a huge paw down on his arm, pinning it to the floor.

The whole attack, from start to finish, lasted a minute at most. He could still hear the rest of his people. They were swarming inside the mansion. There were shouts. There were growls and roars. He heard several gunshots go off. He struggled harder, but it was no use. He couldn’t get free and it was only a matter of time before the werewolf broke through his defenses and killed him.

A blast of heat suddenly smashed into it and the smell of burnt fur filled the air. Then the creature was gone, just like that. He looked for it and found only a mound of smoking fur.

He got up just as Jonah came over to him. He found his gun and picked it up. Then he surveyed the scene. Everything was chaos. The werewolves were scattered through the foyer and lower floor. He saw several teams climb the stairs to the second floor. A few Knights were huddled on the ground. He couldn’t tell if they were dead or not.

Something about the chaotic scene didn’t sit well with him. It was a bloodbath and not something he would sanction. His mind suddenly felt fuzzy and lightheaded.

Then Jonah touched his arm and the burning pain started again. He tried to fight it off but it hurt too much and he simply gave in.

Jonah whispered in his ear.

“Finish them off,” he said.

“Show no mercy!” Elijah yelled.

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