Lycanthrope: Cover of Night
None Left Behind

Roxanne woke up in a similar manner when she recovered in the hospital. Bandaged, bruised, disoriented, and Axel was only a few meters away waiting patiently for her to wake up. The only difference was that Blaire and Tyler were also there, as well as several stitches in her arm and neck.

“I don’t want to make a habit of this,” Roxanne sighed.

“Nor do I want you to,” Axel replied. “But I think I grilled you on that enough last night.”

“I’d say we should call for a council meeting. But this is all of us, isn’t it?” she said, glancing around glumly.

“Sadly, just about. Bethany and our intern died in Mydohl’s Town. Chambers was murdered last night and Zaac, Lucille, and Hans were taken.”

“I can’t tell you how sorry I am for your loss. I guess I never knew how twisted Olaf really was,” Blaire confessed.

“Anyone can be two sided. Humans just go unnoticed,” Axel pointed out.

Roxanne felt a tear roll down her cheek. After spending the long night fighting the pain for her body to heal, she hadn’t fully realized the loss of her comrades, captured or dead.

“Do you have any idea where they may have taken them?” Axel asked.

Blaire shook her head sadly.

Tyler shrugged.

“When Olaf would call in his meetings, we always met up at a local rented office or somewhere public. I don’t think he would be stupid enough to take them there.”

“Not with the risk of us being alive anyhow,” Blaire answered. “Lack of knowledge to our advantage.”

An idea began to click at the word “knowledge”. Roxanne looked up.

“I know who can help us. . . for the right price.”

***

Axel, Magoro, and Roxanne sat around a table with a small bag of items to extract DNA from in the middle.

“The nail scrapings should be enough for her to catch on to,” Axel stated.

“Me and my pack would be happy to stay and watch over Ipsum,” Magoro shifted forward. “I’ll send for more help too, if needed.”

Axel smiled.

“Thank you, Fasil. Keep a watch on the two former trackers while you’re at it. At least until I call for them.”

Roxanne frowned.

“Honestly, Axel. I saw the look in their eyes when Olaf betrayed them. It was genuine Plus it couldn’t have been them to sell out our location. This is the first time they’ve been brought here.”

“No but I had them stationed at a ranger’s station five miles away for the past few days. You never know,” said Axel.

Roxanne didn’t say anything. Axel exhaled.

“I want to trust them, Roxanne, but while I’ve ordered a mass hiding, those two are to be watched. The residents of this town are our safety too.”

She shared his gaze. Like the first time they had worked together, she knew he was right to trust his gut with so much at stake.

About 24 hours later with a few pulled strings, Roxanne walked up to the black and red shrine doors. A little jet lagged, she hesitated before knocking on the door out of politeness. Roxanne was relieved when one of the fox guards answered.

“Ah, the wolf girl from the Americas,” he responded in a heavy Japanese accent.

“Hello. I’m here for business with fox female,” she translated back.

The guard grinned at her flawed Japanese. She felt like dying from embarrassment.

“My mistress makes sure we all can speak some of the western languages,” he assured her. “You don’t have to worry.”

“Unfortunately, my translator is indisposed,” she grumbled. “Is there any way I could see her?”

“Lady Sanora is entertaining a few guests, but she informed us to show you to her should you come around.”

He led her past the great oak door with the three emblems. In the den, six fox shape shifters sat in a circle. They cackled over some gossip while smoking something strong from a long, black pipe, that made her cough.

“Ah Roxanne, such a pleasure to be seeing you again!” the kitsune cried out.

“Pleasure is mine, Lady Sanora.”

“Oh, we’re all friends here. No need for formalities.”

“Sorry, San.”

“I take it you have questions?”

“As a matter of fact, I do,” she replied, and then looked puzzled. “Have you not heard what’s happened?”

San shook her head but didn’t meet her eyes.

“There’s too many things going on for me to have all eyes and ears on and I’ve been up to my neck paying off eminent domain. You get what’s according to your question. No more no less.”

“We probably should get going,” one of the male shifters said. “Wonderful brunch as always.”

Sanora smiled as her guests bid them both well and left.

“Let’s go to the garden and you can tell me what’s troubling you.”

“There’s been a terrible siege on Ipsum, both our town and headquarters. The trackers and vampires teamed up and killed several citizens and kidnapped our highest-ranking officers.”

“Are you trying to replace out who’s behind it?” The fox demon tensed up.

“His name is Olaf Sermis. I just need his whereabouts,” Roxanne replied. “He was a treasurer in Anchorslotte.”

“Alright, I’ll sniff him out immediately.”

Roxanne shuffled to replace her nail scrapings. “Won’t you need something to trace him?”

“Of course.” She took the package. “I take it you got in a tussle with him?”

“It was inevitable.”

“As long as it’s his DNA.”

Roxanne studied her. “I have one more question.”

“That’s going to double the price.”

“I know,” she cut her off. “How long can I stay in Allosfaire before becoming corrupted?”

The fox demon gazed at her as if deciphering if she could figure it out.

“Hold out your arm.”

San swiped her arm with a fingernail. Roxanne grimaced as the kitsune tasted her blood. “Alright, I can answer that, but first, payment.”

Roxanne chuckled as she spilled the contents of a large knapsack filled with dozens of treasures and tools from Allosfaire.

“This isn’t makeup I’m hauling around.”

Sanora placed her pipe down and let out a happy little yip as she ran her hands through the precious replaceings. Several minutes later, she found some stuff most to her liking.

“Pearls will do nicely for my famous Cleopatra Cocktails. The south side of the shrine needs a new coat of paint, so the tinglet ink should do,” she replied, as she sorted the colorful beetles. “Oh, and the satyr horn will come in handy settling my stomach. Snake berries are delicious, but by the fire’s light they are poisonous.”

Roxanne raised an eyebrow.

“Glad I brought all this stuff. You sure make me work for your service.”

San chuckled, dryly.

“If you’re going to barter with demons make sure it’s in cash,” she warned. “Unless of course you’ve grown weary of that soul.”

Roxanne laughed skeptically. “What in the world do you have use for a soul?”

The kitsune laughed. “Nothing, and even I wouldn’t know how to extract one.”

About two hours later, Roxanne returned from lunch as San just finished up.

“This is Olaf’s holdup location,” San said as she handed her a piece of parchment and continued. “Five hours before you suffer hallucinations. Eight hours before physical trauma. Twelve hours before senses are affected, and finally fourteen hours before transformation to a rabid.”

Roxanne felt the sense of despair filling up her heart as she lost herself in thought.

“There’s nothing else we could do to prolong it, is there? It’s a literal countdown to madness the moment I step into Allosfaire?”

The kitsune looked at her sympathetically. “I’m afraid not, my dear. All you can do is complete this trial and keep a watch close while there.”

“Thank you, San. As hard as it is to hear the news straight, at least I know the numbers.”

“You’ve come this far, and you have your Pack backing you up,” San optimistically pointed out.

“Right now, my Pack is in shambles. I’ve got that greedy, hate filled human to thank for that.”

“Find Olaf and you’ll replace your family,” Sanora reminded her. “And time is of the essence.”

“I know, you’re right. Thank you,” Roxanne managed to muster a smile. San nodded in approval as she accompanied Roxanne to the exit.

“You know you’ve really helped us a great deal. I should be thanking God that the vampires haven’t had the same luck with you.”

“Don’t be fooled, Roxanne. I like you but, in the end, I am a business woman,” she replied before shutting the door. “Their problem is I hunt at night.”

***

The cover of night permitted them to advance without drawing any attention. The duo glanced from behind the building across the street as they scouted out the best way to make the first strike.

“Think this the right place?” Axel asked.

“If it’s not, that kitsune is going to lose a tail again,” Roxanne grumbled.

“At least you were able to replace out how long you can stay in Allosfaire.”

“Desperate times, going on the word of a demon,” Roxanne replied. “Let’s hope it suffices.”

“Well, this a remote dilapidated part of town that’s not likely to reach to the police for help,” Axel pointed out. “With a few guards to keep the trespassers at bay that is.”

“Remind you of my college days?” Roxanne joked.

“I still wonder how you were able to balance patrolling sewers while enjoying college,” Axel scoffed.

“Easy. I didn’t.”

Axel let out a throaty chuckle.

“On a serious note. How are we going to go about getting in?” Roxanne asked. “Shimmy me up the chute again?”

“No. We need to stick together this time. Remember?” Axel told her, becoming instantly serious.

“Right, whatever you say.”

They waited until the signal was given, which was a loud and bright fire on the opposite end of their position. The sound of glass breaking and fire erupting was what they had been waiting for. Blaire and Tyler had been at work.

The two werewolves stayed hidden as several guards opened the garage door to investigate the diversion.

With fewer guards, Roxanne and Axel rushed in in their wolf forms just before the automatic door closed. The last one guarding it looked like a regular security guard, probably a pawn hired by Olaf for extra local surveillance.

His eyes bulged from his face and jaw gaped open as he beheld the sight of the duo shift from wolves to man and woman in a few blinks of an eye.

“What in hell fire?... Who are you?” he gasped, reloading his gun.

Roxanne grinned while she let it sink in before pouncing forward.

“Well, I’m not your bloody granny!” she growled and then knocked him out, using the wall behind him.

Once inside they quickly barricaded the door. Roxanne found some rats in the garage and bribed them with the honey-barley cakes.

“No tracks,” she told them, watching each little animal scurry along the floor and up into a crack near the electronic door.

“If you’re worried about cameras, I’m pretty sure it’s not going to do us a lot of good now that they definitely know something’s up,” Axel reminded her.

“Something’s up but not where to replace us,” Roxanne grinned. “They’ll have to come looking themselves.”

Sure, enough the little rodents did the trick. Roxanne and Axel navigated their way up the floors to the garage elevator.

They approached until they saw the elevator descending up ahead. Roxanne stood in a trance for a moment until Axel grabbed her arm and led her to cover behind several parked vehicles.

“Coming out to play, huh?” Axel beckoned, cocking his pistol. Roxanne’s finger was wrapped around her crossbow’s trigger.

A minute passed, and no one came out. The two strained their ears for something to approach. Roxanne held her breath. After what seemed like time slowed to a crawl, they heard a metallic thud.

The two tensed from anticipation.

Another thud.

Then, the sound of a crash, and then the shrill squeal of metal tearing. Something was trying to force its way out. . .

Claw marks made from a heavy impact slammed through the elevator’s door like nails on tin foil.

Roxanne gasped and Axel became pale.

Finally, out it came, a horror that roamed lonely in Allosfaire.

Before them stood a ferocious howling beast of both man and raging bull.

A minotaur…

Armed to the teeth and clad in metal plates and chains, he ripped his way from the small compacted space through the hole he made. The monster let out a blood curdling bellow that shook the entire building.

Roxanne’s blood turned to ice as she laid her eyes on the hideous horror that brandished a bone shattering axe. Steam blew from his muzzle as he advanced forward, searching for the trespassers.

“Stay quiet and move backwards,” Axel telepathed.

She could tell by the sound of his voice he was terrified but was still trying to remain collected. She did what she was bid and backed away.

Not wanting to take any chances, they strung up trip wire behind their path as they navigated through the maze of cars. The monster paced around the garage as he searched.

Occasionally, he would grow impatient and then into a rage as he turned cars on their sides with the cruel axe.

There was only so far they could go before he scented them and charged forward.

“Run!” Axel screamed.

Roxanne shrieked as adrenaline kicked in and she pumped her arms to match her speeding legs. The trip wire granted them some time. Fleeing in their wolf forms bought them a little more.

“I know you didn’t like the idea of chutes, but it may be our only hope,” Roxanne told him as they ducked behind a truck. He looked to see what she was talking about and made a note.

“Not much of a choice,” Axel breathed heavily. They made their way over and pried off the cover. Roxanne went in first.

“Here, get in,” Roxanne extended a hand toward Axel but he only grimaced as he inspected the size of it.

“I don’t think I’m going to fit.”

“It will be a tight squeeze but if you compress your body it will work,” Roxanne persuaded.

From the inside the vent, she didn’t have the best view, but she could see the terror fill his eyes as the thing must have been charging from his left.

“Axel, get in quick!” She screamed.

Axel reached a hand down and quickly forced her back so that she was edged further toward the drop.

“Stay hidden,” he whispered before disappearing from her view.

“AXEL!!” Roxanne cried in fear for her partner.

She desperately tried to pull herself back up and help him, but the sides were slippery and she lost her footing.

Down, down she fell until the minotaur’s bellowing was drowned out and it took all her senses just to make out her surroundings.

“Stick together huh?” she growled in frustration.

After a moment, she regained her composure. She wasn’t angry, only worried for Axel.

“He’s a tough guy. If he could take down a small horde of fangs, he should manage a minotaur,” she reassured herself, “. . . at least for a little while.”

Once she collected herself, she looked ahead and eventually found an exit from the vents. She unraveled the screws and forced off the grate. Roxanne found herself in a dark corridor.

“Nowhere to go but forward.”

The corridor led her into a large warehouse, containing shelf after shelf of marked boxes.

As she passed a large stack of packages, one of them reflected the light from the fluorescent bulbs and caught her eye. She reached up to open the box’s flap and found it filled with precious metals and assorted gemstones. Roxanne ran her fingers through them to make sure her mind wasn’t playing tricks. Sure enough, the metal felt cold and the gems were smooth, hard, and fell through her fingers.

The label stated, “Rare Mining Objects: Mydohl’s Ghost Town.”

She gazed to the left and saw all the packages had labels on them telling what its contents were. The majority had come from the siege Roxanne had almost lost her life to.

Bitterly studying the currency, she hissed in disgust.

“I guess this is what he meant when he said he would regain his position on the market. He just wants ours.”

After thoroughly inspecting the cargo, her wolf senses were triggered by a strange yet recognizable energy emanating within the facility. Roxanne’s nails grew and her eyes glowed golden.

“Another leak, what a surprise,” she grumbled.

She heard someone approach. The scent was veiled with human. Roxanne crouched in one of the corners, keeping her weapon aimed low.

There were three of them. One of them was tall and gaunt while the other two were shorter and muscular.

“I gotta tell you, Olaf sure has come farther than I expected him to,” one of them gloated.

“Considering he’s duped the lycanthropes several times I can agree,” said the tall one.

“As long as he keeps those self-righteous dogs out of the way for us to do as we please, we’ll let him think he’s calling the shots,” the third replied.

“For now,” said the tallest, he then preceded to sift his hands through the box of gems. “Can you believe how much these are worth? These are a dime a dozen back home.”

Roxanne listened intently from the cover of the crate-stacked shelves.

“Hey, do you guys smell that?” one of the “trackers” asked suspiciously.

“What are you getting at?” one of them asked.

“It smells like blood.”

The other two stopped what they were doing and sniffed the air. Roxanne realized in horror that she had fresh cuts all over her. She wouldn’t have bothered with them if it had just been humans. Her pulse throbbed rapidly as they began searching the area for the source.

If she didn’t want to be cornered in such a tight fit, she would have to move quicker than they. When one of the guards squeezed through, she used the element of surprise by kicking the rows of shelves in a domino effect that sandwiched him between the crates. The other two whipped around to see Roxanne perched on top of the shelf.

“Speak of the devil!” one of them hissed.

“Nah, not damned yet,” Roxanne laughed.

The trackers paused, staring at her intently.

“So what otherworldly scum has Olaf recruited now?” she asked.

The other two shrugged. “Damn, I was just getting comfortable in this skin,” one of them growled.

With a swift motion they both yanked the scruff of their own necks and made a tear with their claws. In an instant, they shed their human disguises like insects discarding their old skins.

Beneath, the true monstrous forms emerged, goat like, bloodthirsty satyrs.

Roxanne jumped off the shelf on her own accord to avoid the blow from the beasts below. She took cover as they flung explosives her way.

“I sure hope you’re creative with excuses!” Roxanne called from across the room. “Because it’s sure going to be quite a conversation explaining to the actual human trackers of why there are random human skins lying around!”

“Shit she’s right. Why did we have to transform?” one of them asked.

“Don’t worry sweetheart, we’ll just pick new ones off a few of his more expendable goons.”

“They’ll probably never tell the difference,” the second one chided. “All humans look alike.”

“What about when Olaf sees how you’ve wreaked his warehouse and likely damaged the merchandise?”

“Maybe when we deliver your corpse to him, he’ll be a little forgiving,” one of them nastily snickered back.

Roxanne dodged behind any obstacle she could to keep distance. They flung more explosives at her when they weren’t trying to rush her. Finally, she got the idea to take a shot at the explosives as they aimed it. The eruption rained debris down on them, creating the perfect distraction.

Roxanne charged forward in her wolf form and mauled the beastly creature. The other recovered and swung his sickle into her pelt, knocking her back. He raised it again to take her head off, but a shot erupted through him.

Roxanne turned her head to see Blaire and Tyler making their way over to her.

“Mother Wolf, I’m glad to see y’all,” Roxanne beamed. She shrank her muzzle back into her jaw and nose.

“Us too. Sounded like you could use the backup,” Blaire replied.

“How’d you get in?” Roxanne asked, scratching her chin where fur once was.

“Commotion was suitably switched to you guys,” Blaire smirked. “Getting in wasn’t too much of a hassle.”

“Glad one of us had an easier time,” Roxanne huffed.

“If that’s what you want to call it,” Tyler joked as he inspected one of the gems scattered across the floor.

A clawed hand suddenly reached out from the crates and grasped his arm. It was one of the satyrs that Roxanne had thrown the shelves into. The half goat man emerged and furiously smashed Tyler up against the wall. Roxanne and Blaire shrieked as they rushed forward and defended him.

Tyler kicked him squarely in the face as Roxanne and Blaire stabbed the satyr over and over again. Screams mixed with bellows and blood splattered like a fractured pipe.

Finally, they freed their companion and the beast lay still.

The moment’s peace felt alien as they caught their breaths and attempted to clean the blood from themselves and their weapons.

Finally, Roxanne broke the numb silence through panting breaths.

“Ready to move out?” she asked.

“Hell yes.”

“I second that,” Tyler complied.

The three brandished their guns as they kept to the shadows while picking off the smaller numbers of trackers. Roxanne volunteered herself to be in the front in case of combat.

“Any of y’all see where they took the others?”

“We saw some areas that looked like they were being used for containment on our way in,” Tyler told her as they lead down a dark corridor.

“Maybe that’s where Lucille, Zaac, and Hans are,” Roxanne said with hope in her voice. “And you didn’t see anything of Axel, right?”

“No, and he’s kind of hard to miss,” Blaire reminded her.

“Other than some gunshots, but that could have just been you,” Tyler pointed out.

“Damn. . .” Roxanne bit her lip. “We’ll replace him.”

They turned the corner and Roxanne kept a hopeful look out. One tracker was pacing the hall. Her flashlight caught Roxanne’s boot. The werewolf stepped out of the darkness, blade in hand. The tracker gasped and reached for her radio. Roxanne flung her knife so that it caught the phone and knocked it across the floor.

She pounced on her like a cat and brought the tracker to the ground. Her prisoner thrashed wildly and tried to scream for help. Blaire brandished her gun as they covered them from behind. Tyler yanked the gun out of the tracker’s hand and helped Roxanne drag her out of sight.

Flashing her wolf eyes and baring her sharp teeth, Roxanne asked in a gravelly voice,

“Where are the other lycanthropes?”

“Burn in hell, wolf bitch!” the tracker retorted. The werewolf grew icy cold as she fixated her with burning yellow eyes.

“I’m not in the mood to humor false heroism,” Roxanne growled. “I’ve lost too many people to deal with bullshit.”

The female tracker whimpered as Roxanne gripped her neck sharply with her nails. “Tell me where the prisoners are being held.”

The stubborn woman coldly replied. “You think killing me is going to derive empathy for your kind?! When word gets out, they will hunt you down like the rabid dogs you are!”

“Two worlds to choose from, I think you underestimate where I can hide a body,” Roxanne hissed.

The woman’s screams were likely to cause a tumult had Blaire not shoved a piece of fabric in her mouth. She struggled against their hold, but Tyler and Roxanne’s grip only tightened.

Finally giving her a moment to recover, Blaire removed the gag.

Roxanne asked politely,

“Let’s try this again, and keep in mind you don’t need eyes to give an answer,” she warned while brandishing her fingernail in front of the tracker’s left eye.

“Room 219,” the tracker nervously replied. “I saw one of them taken there.”

“One of them?” Roxanne asked. “More than one was taken.”

The tracker paused as if afraid to give an answer. Roxanne exhaled sharply. “Whether I like the answer or not, you’re going to be in far more trouble if you don’t give me one.”

“They were taken into the portal to the other realm, last I heard. Something about being staked out.”

Roxanne’s eyes widened and her insides coiled.

“What does that mean?” Tyler asked.

“If lycanthropes linger too long in Allosfaire, the energy corrupts their minds and they become feral,” Roxanne explained in horror. “Olaf plans to turn them into rabids.”

“Why?” Blaire inquired. “Wouldn’t that make more monsters?”

“There happens to be one who pro-creates by monsters,” Roxanne said thoughtfully. “Someone he’s aligned himself with. . .” In a steely manner Roxanne turned her attention back to the tracker. “Find something to tie her up with, in case we have to come back here.”

“I’m telling the truth!” the tracker cried. “I’ll even take you to the portal.”

“I can replace it on my own, thank you though,” Roxanne replied, injecting her with her tranquilizer bolt.

“Room 219,” Roxanne declared. “Let’s go.”

The three navigated through the dark halls, studying the floor layout and keeping a look out for enemies. They made their way to the second floor until Roxanne picked up a familiar scent.

It got stronger as they closed in.

“Anyone here?” Roxanne asked as they entered a long room with cells on both sides. She waited a moment and then called out again. “Hello?’

“Who’s there?” a male voice wearily called back.

Roxanne pointed her flashlight into one of the cells where the voice was coming from.

A blond man shielded his eyes from the harshness of the light.

“Hans!” Roxanne cried relieved while running to him.

“Oh Roxanne! Thank God,” he reached his arms out through the bars. The young woman ran to embrace him as he kissed her forehead and ran his hand through her hair tenderly. “How did you replace me?”

“A lot of leads, some friendly, some forced,” Roxanne explained.

Hans noted Blaire and Tyler with slight suspicion. “Their help was voluntarily given, I take it?”

Blaire nodded in lieu of a response while Tyler held up a few fingers to signify truce.

“Yes,” Roxanne assured them. “They helped me replace you as well as pitched in a gun.”

“What about Axel and Lucille?”

“One of the trackers we interrogated said the other lycanthropes were being staked out in Allosfaire through a leak.”

Roxanne then took a deep breath. “To make matters worse, Axel and I were separated in the garage when Olaf let out a minotaur.”

Hans’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped slightly.

“Sorry, there’s also a minotaur running amok, I failed to mention,” Roxanne added.

“Nothing surprises me at this point, also I wouldn’t worry about Olaf,” Hans assured her. “He’s always been good about diverting attention.”

“Well, we can’t move on until we break you out,” Roxanne noted. “Any of you guys see a switch?”

The two looked briefly before shaking their heads.

“What about that?” Tyler asked. The other three looked up to where he was pointing. A long green cable connected to a red light above Han’s cell, stretched down the hall and out of sight.

“Think it leads to a control switch?” Blaire asked.

“Follow the bread crumbs,” Roxanne replied. The two began following the cable while Roxanne turned to her jailed companion.

“We’ll get you out in no time,” she assured him.

Hans gave her a faint grin. “Don’t worry, I won’t wander off.”

As the trio followed the cables, they were led up a long stair case. Through the lack of light, they strained their eyes to see.

A sharp ricochet pierced the unsettling silence. It was the sound of gun shots, coming from below. At the top of the stairs, the floor overlooked the first level.

Roxanne ran to the overhead to see what was causing the commotion below. It appeared Axel was caught in a turmoil with several heavily armed trackers. It was only a sheet of glass that had prevented her from jumping over the side so she could assist him.

“Axel!” she cried, though he couldn’t hear her, not with the sound of gun fire exchanged back and forth.

Axel had obviously been holding up a good fight but his leg that had been previously broken was still sore, and the constant retreating was beginning to take a toll on him. More trackers invaded the hall, creating an inescapable perimeter. Axel had ducked down to reload and then the deafening cacophony ceased on one man’s order.

“Cease fire! Cease fire!” he commanded. The voice belonged to an old foe, Olaf Sermis. “I need him alive!”

Roxanne raised a heavy pipe to break the glass but Blaire held her back.

“Don’t! You’ll give our position away!” she warned her.

“If I get a clear shot, I can end this!” Roxanne argued.

“They’ll mow you down before you even raise your gun,” Tyler persuaded. “Just wait a moment.”

Roxanne worried her nails as she held her breath. Several trackers swung around Axel’s shield and attempt to subdue him. Her mentor fought back bravely and persistently, but one of them managed to knock him to his knees with a painful blast from a taser.

Axel howled and gritted his teeth as they forced him to submission.

Olaf strolled casually forward.

“Good work,” he told his soldiers. Axel wearily glared up at him with disgust before Olaf turned to address him directly.

“Even the luckier ones don’t have the good sense to stay hidden,” he said smugly.

“You’re digging your own grave cornering us,” Axel growled.

“And I’m going to push you in it,” Olaf retorted curtly. “But I know you didn’t come alone. Where’s the little meddlesome bitch?”

Axel spat in his face. “I’d say there’s one right in front of me.”

He received a swift blow to the gut for that by one of the trackers. Olaf wiped the spittle off dismissively.

“If we don’t replace her, I know the minotaur will, and he doesn’t take prisoners.”

Axel still didn’t give an answer so Olaf turned to the other trackers. “Fine. Stake him out with the other one.”

Roxanne watched bitterly as they dragged Axel away.

“We have to go help him,” she gasped, as she headed toward the door. Blaire once again stopped her.

“We need to get Hans out first,” Blaire told her.

“For god sake they’re going to turn him into a rabid. He’ll become a monster!”

“That’s why we need all the help we can get!” Blaire argued. “We’re completely outnumbered. If we have one more, that increases our chances,” and she then turned to Tyler. “Back me up.”

Both women looked at him. Roxanne’s eyes were desperate and pleading but Blaire’s were direct and unyielding.

“She’s right, Roxanne. We gain nothing by leaving him in the cell. Besides Axel would want you safe.”

For a moment, his words dwelled in her. She remembered how she had stared death in the face twice when separated from the others, the time Olaf over powered her and when the vampires brought her down only a few short days ago. Despite Blaire and Tyler not being Lycans, for right now they were the only Pack she had.

“You’re right,” she finally agreed. “Let’s get Hans out.”

***

Eventually the cable led them to a power room. Roxanne kicked open the door easily. They entered and began searching the room. Tyler found the switches controlling the containment sector.

“219, right?” Tyler asked.

“Correct.”

With a flick of the switch the color went from red to green. “That should have done the trick,” he smiled triumphantly.

Blaire studied the cameras curiously. “How come they’re all fuzzy?”

“A few rats to knock out security surveillance,” Roxanne grinned.

Blaire looked impressed. “I guess break ins just got a whole lot easier.”

As the three left the room, they heard an unsettling rumbling through the halls.

“You hear that?” Tyler asked.

They all strained their ears.

“Where’s it coming from?” Blaire asked.

Roxanne was silent as she strained her senses. She smelled something large and aggressive on the other side of the wall. It shuffled and then stopped right on the other side of them.

“Get away from the wall!” Roxanne cried.

The next few seconds was like the sudden flash of lightening just before the thunder cracked violently.

The minotaur burst through the flimsy wall and bellowed madly. Before they could react, the beast struck Blaire in the belly and sent her over the edge of the overlook. Glass shattered as she was battered down to the lower floor.

“Blaire!” Tyler screamed as he headed after her. He fired on the beast but the bullets barely made a mark in the monster’s thick armor. In turn, the bull man knocked him back toward the ledge. Tyler held on to the edge frantically.

The minotaur raised his axe to hack Tyler’s arms off. He let go on his own accord before the blade severed into the linoleum floor.

With no one else present, the beast shifted his eyes towards Roxanne. The breath was caught in her chest and she had to act fast.

The bare narrow hallway would be a death trap if she remained. She turned and sprinted in her wolf form, keeping space between her and the beast. Every foot of the way, the monster was on her tail.

Finally, she made it into a dark office filled with cubicles and desks. Using them to her advantage, she made enough distance where she could catch her breath and plan her next step. Unfortunately, the doorway collapsed behind the minotaur as he smashed through, sealing her in the room with him. Luckily the minotaur’s eyesight wasn’t very useful in a dark room, but that infuriated him even more. As he stalked her, he cut through and smashed any obstacle in his way, forcing Roxanne to retreat to another hiding spot in hopes he hadn’t seen her.

To her right, she smelled a rat skittering by. She grabbed it and attempted to feed it one of her barley cakes but then paused. A seed was planted, and an idea began to form.

“He’s a lot more powerful than a few rats,” she concluded. “What if the tables were turned?”

Dropping the rat, she crumbled the cakes and pricked herself. Smearing her own blood and the cake crumbs together to make a sticky paste all over her right arm. She hated having to bait herself, but she wasn’t sure what else would draw him in. Minotaurs weren’t scavengers like birds or rats. They preferred hunting their prey.

“Oh, this is going to hurt.”

After mustering up enough courage, she came into the minotaur’s view. He stared at her and snorted through his muzzle, eyes red as blood, and claws clenched into a fist around the handle of the axe. Roxanne paused for a moment and took a shot at him in a non-lethal section.

Just as she planned, the arrow drove him mad.

He charged forward and brought the axe down. She barely missed the blade as it lodged into the cubicle wall behind her. In a strange form of choreography, she swung her left arm in his face first, bludgeoning him on the side of his head. He was stunned briefly and probably surprised that she had only used her bare arms to strike him. The second time she struck was with her right arm, the one coated in the honey barley lure.

His maw snapped around her forearm and let agonizing pain sear through her body. Roxanne screamed while plunging her spur into his neck. The wound wasn’t fatal, but it loosened his grip on her. She pulled away and allowed the bite mark to knit itself back with his blood.

The beast growled as he pulled away and stumbled briefly. Roxanne noticed behind him that several pieces of rubble had fallen and piled up into one corner. It was the type of ceiling consisting of tiles that could easily open.

Wasting no time, the dire blood shot past him and scrambled up the dunnage madly. She didn’t bother to check to see if he was still following her.

She had just barely pulled herself up and in when his hand shot up from behind, in an attempt to drag her back out.

Roxanne scrambled through the air vents until his scent somewhat faded. Breathing in a sigh of relief, she made her way amongst the darkness and dust.

Moving quickly yet cautiously because the ceiling was old and flimsy, she knew one wrong or rushed move could send her crashing through the ceiling to the persistent minotaur following below.

Finally, she gained enough distance between the concrete walls so that she could lower herself from the air ducts.

When she rendezvoused back to Hans’s cell, it was bare as a tree in winter.

She stood there for a moment, flustered, and confused. “Surely after being separated in the control panel, Blaire and Tyler would have returned here. And where is Hans?”

“When the cell opened, did he leave to replace herself, or had the trackers seized him?” She bit the corner of her lip as she organized her frantic mind and pondered her next step.

“If they had taken him, there was one sure place they would have taken him with the others. . .” Roxanne breathed in slowly and closed her eyes. If the energy was faint it was unmistakable, and she would replace it. One way or another.

Sure enough, the subtle mystical energy went from spontaneously pricking her wolf hairs to triggering her tail as she got closer to the source.

Soon she even smelled wild flowers and the rich metallic soil seeping from the Swiftred Hills.

Along with picking up traces of celestial odors, so did Han’s and trackers’ scents mix in. Roxanne quickened her pace to see what was up.

Someone was coming from behind. Quick as a flash, Roxanne concealed herself against the doorway as they approached.

They were led by none other than Olaf and his small ilk of loyal, corrupt trackers. Roxanne cautiously followed behind.

Behind the walls, she could hear the minotaur scurrying, trying to replace a weak spot to break through and snatch her up. His motions were cautious and slow but one command from the barley cakes would send him in a furious uproar, possibly strong enough to break through.

Her breath fluttered as she noted the bull man’s eternal determination, and then slowly smiled. Even as the beast was clawing away at the wall, she felt a sliver of satisfaction of a certain trick up her sleeve.

Turning tail, she left the growling, struggling creature in a fury, eager to keep her distance until the time was needed.

She followed Olaf and his troops until they led her to one of the fenced in yards near the buildings. Roxanne skulked away and crawled onto the rooftop overlooking them. It was here that she felt the vibrancies the strongest. Close by, the portal leaked through. She scanned the small crowd and there she saw Hans, bound and beaten by his captors. There was a guard on both sides watching his every move. A third pointed her assault rifle at his head.

Roxanne gulped and looked around for Blaire and Tyler. They were there too, though they weren’t held under the same imprisonment as her fellow lycanthrope.

For the briefest moment, Roxanne feared that her two human comrades had given him up for their safety. They didn’t appear to have signs of struggle indicated in their injuries. Obviously, they had been put through less of a hell than Hans. That, and they weren’t being held at gunpoint.

The werewolf waited in dread as Olaf approached, slowly tormented by anticipation. They needed human alliances if they ever wanted peace. But she was also risking Han’s safety, waiting to see what would happen.

Stuck somewhere in a maddening middle, she drew her crossbow out and remembered the chant to summon the minotaur.

She prayed she wouldn’t be too late for either outcome.

Olaf approached Hans as his guards parted ways for him. He examined Hans with a smug smirk.

“You’re not very good at tying up old knots,” he scoffed. “You thought you had done away with me in Anchorslotte, right?”

“As you can see, we’re working on that,” Hans replied. “Seems you’re not so good either, look who’s here tonight.”

Olaf regarded Blaire and Tyler with vague concern.

“Ms. Mackintosh, long time no see,” he purred.

“You left us for dead,” she growled bluntly.

“In your moment of doubt, I knew you were going to turn on me. I did what I thought was necessary for our own survival.”

“You pulled us on your side by going on about how lycanthropes kill and endanger our kind, yet you throw your own to the wolves, literally,” Tyler said, disgusted.

“It was a mistake. In my line of work that’s all I’ve had to know, survival first. For a long time,” Olaf defended himself.

“But now we don’t need to worry about that any more. I’m on the verge of something bigger than any market we’ve ever seen. We won’t ever have to run again. Think about it, Blaire, you can retire young and live happily with your daughter.”

Blaire looked her most vulnerable when Mary Gwen was mentioned.

Tyler shifted uneasily.

Roxanne’s nerves were as raw as meat in a butchers’ shop. She keened her senses back to the minotaur that was closing in on her and the trackers from within the facility.

“Just a little closer.”

“After this you can take whatever cut you want and leave all this behind. Like a bad dream,” Olaf proposed.

Blaire and Tyler glanced at one another. Roxanne held her breath. Hans looked at them warily.

“There’s just one thing you have to do,” he said, as he pulled out his spare handgun and handed it to Tyler.

“Tie the last loose end.”

Tyler took it reluctantly but didn’t raise it to the Lycans. Time passed and Olaf grew impatient.

“Do it already!” Olaf growled.

Tyler’s lip quivered. He began to raise it but lowered it almost immediately.

“For fuck’s sake Tyler. They are not like us! Given the chance they would kill you in a heartbeat.”

“No! Just YOU!” Roxanne growled above them. Her voice grew more feral than that of a human.

“Enemy afoot!”

They must have been more than shocked to see her because the next few seconds seem to pass in slow motion.

Their attention was turned to the shaking from the left, as they froze in place. Out from the entrance way, the minotaur burst through and bellowed loud enough to be heard from Allosfaire.

With the scent of kitsune blood mixed into the air with the magical command, the minotaur snapped his attention away from the lycanthropes he had been sent to kill, and instead went for the nearest trackers.

Chaos overtook the whole yard.

The guard’s grip slackened with all the commotion, so Hans was able get away and duck for cover with Blaire.

Tyler turned his pistol on to Olaf and pulled the trigger.

Nothing came out. . .

Confused and panicked, Tyler hit the hammer several more times but to no avail. Olaf just flashed a satisfied smug.

“Did you honestly think I wouldn’t check where your loyalties lie first?”

Tyler didn’t say anything. Instead he lurched forward to try to subdue Olaf. Olaf deflected his attack and whipped out his own gun and fired mercilessly into Tyler’s chest.

“NOOOO!” Blaire shrieked, trying to catch him but Hans held her back.

Tyler spluttered blood.

In a fit of fear, she knocked Hans away and ran to cradle him.

Olaf’s attention turned his pistol and fired at Roxanne. The werewolf sprung from the roof and landed on the ground in a roll. She repeated the command when it appeared the minotaur was beginning to grow aggressive towards Roxanne and her allies again.

His eyes burned and steam puffed from his muzzle as he made his way towards her. He was too big and intent to be commanded by the kitsune’s spell for long. Olaf laughed from a safe distance.

“Dog better learn a new trick,” he mocked.

Roxanne held out her compass, concentrating on where the energy was leaking. “The deed is done and the way may shut!”

The edges of the leak began to pulsate like thunder and as it started losing its form it slowly shrank into itself.

Everything seemed to stop, and everyone’s attention was seized in that fleeting flurried moment. Humans, the minotaur, and the werewolves all stopped along with what seemed like a twist in time. Given to instinct, the minotaur sprang towards the portal, not wanting to be left stranded in an alien world dominated by humans.

Olaf looked terrified and dumbstruck. This time it was Roxanne’s turn to add insult to injury.

“How’s that?” she asked.

He tilted his head to the side as if contemplating the situation. One pawn at a time.

“These leaks are easier to close than open from what I’ve heard. You’re not going to leave your Pack stranded on the other side?” he laughed, making his way behind the minotaur.

With that he retreated out of sight. Roxanne felt her breath quicken. She had taken down his Queen, only to leave her own king wide open.

The trackers who hadn’t fled at the sight of the minotaur, hesitated when they saw the portal appear and shrink into itself. They dared not venture into a world where they feared they wouldn’t survive.

Only Roxanne, Hans, and Blaire remained.

The distraught human cradled Tyler’s head in her arms. He sputtered a few more times.

“Blai. . . re. I couldn’t.”

Hans leaned down next to them. Roxanne’s eyes welled with tears.

“I know you didn’t know at the time, but thank you for sparing me,” said Hans.

The tiniest corner of Tyler’s mouth lifted into that of a smile, though he didn’t say anything.

“Tyler. Please hold on,” Blaire begged.

He squeezed her hand in response and then appeared to drift off into space.

“I’ll tell John you said hi. . .”

Like a candle slowly burning on its last wick, the light in his eyes grew dim and then dark.

Tyler was gone.

Tears streaming down her face, Blaire softly whimpered.

Hans and Roxanne comforted her as best as they could before he nodded to Roxanne.

“We have to go in now, before it closes.”

She nodded. “Stay here,” Roxanne told Blaire.

“No,” she growled. “I’ll see Olaf die.”

“It’s not safe for mortals to linger in Allosfaire,” Hans tried to persuade her.

“It’s no safer for lycanthropes to linger there either,” she replied.

“No, but we don’t go crazy quite as fa. . .” he started but Roxanne elbowed him to shut up.

“If you come, we can’t watch over you,” Roxanne warned.

Blaire nodded. She carefully laid Tyler on his back and crossed his hands over his chest before rising with the others.

“Whatever happens, I’ll die happy knowing Olaf’s gone too.”

“Not if you don’t have a mind left,” Hans replied, though he said that under his breath.

With that, the three entered the leak before it was fully closed.

Inside they found themselves in a thick overgrown orchard. The air was ripe with pomegranates, wild berries, and silver apples. Amongst it were tall poles with flowing tapestries of mermaids and fairies sewn on them.

A long stone wall circled them in.

“I’ll try to get a look overhead,” Blaire said, pulling herself over the wall. “Make sure Olaf doesn’t try to get a hit on us.”

After that, the two had time to get a look around the enclosed area.

“Fancy place. Someone had a taste for gardening,” Hans noted.

“From the look of the art work, it probably belonged to a party of nymphs. While gardening, they’re known for decorating their territory,” she noted, “Until something drove them out. Probably satyrs.”

“Maybe this is the first place Olaf recruited them back at his hideout.”

“Hey, at least they left plenty of produce behind!”

“How can you have an appetite right now?” Roxanne asked.

“Due to the fact I’ve been starved for two and half days,” he curtly replied, reaching out to a fallen pomegranate on the ground.

As he picked it up, a furry striped tailed critter pounced at his hand and hissed.

“Geeze!” he cried, recoiling back. “What the hell!”

Roxanne’s eyes went wide. “It’s a brownie!”

The little beast let out a loud chittering sound. All around them, a small horde of them channeled together from the trees. The little rodent imps stared at them intently.

“I hate brownies,” Hans growled.

Roxanne took the half rotten fruit from his hands and crumbled the remaining honey barley cake over it.

“Here,” she tossed it to the nest. “We mean you no harm.”

“What gives, Roxanne?”

“Trust me,” she replied.

All of the brownies greedily ate up the juicy red seeds. Once the husk became empty, they acted in a different way, almost calm and docile. Roxanne grinned.

“Every cranny,” she pointed up to a cluster of silver apples.

Upon her command, the brownies shimmied up the tree’s surface and plucked an apple off its stem and then brought it back down to her. Roxanne proudly handed it to Hans. “These aren’t half rotten.”

Hans bit into the apple hungrily. “Thanks, those kitsune cakes really do the job, huh?”

“That’s only the half of it. We can use them to our advantage.”

“Only when needed against the minotaur,” he replied, tossing the core. “We should split up. We need to get Axel and Lucille out of here.”

“Good thing we’re not in a horror movie, right?”

“Just don’t start necking in the open and we’ll be fine,” he teased.

“Relax, the mood is gone, along with my appetite,” Roxanne called, disappearing into the brush.

Knowing she would have to remain agile, fast, and resourceful, she let her senses kick in as she searched the boundaries of the orchard. Her sensitive nose sifted through the scents of all passersby, rodents, birds, shifters, and finally Axel. Her pace quickened as she finally got a hold of her mentor’s trail. She nearly leapt a foot when she heard the rough snorting that was the minotaur’s breathing. Taking cover behind a thick tree, she waited for him to pass.

He turned around just as she darted her head back behind the trunk. She didn’t have to see or smell to sense he would check out her hiding spot. Roxanne’s heart pounded almost as fast as his heavy approaching hooves. She remembered the first lesson Axel taught her, about throwing off her enemies.

It worked. Using the tree between them as an obstacle and with perfect timing, Roxanne circled around it and away. Before he figured it out, she had already darted away with the rest of the trees behind her for cover.

***

The scents were hard to sift through with all the residential beasts that came and went but finally she found Axel’s. The stronger it got the closer she knew she was.

Slouched and bound between two rocks was her mentor, strung up like an offering.

“Axel!” Roxanne cried bounding over towards him.

“Am I already mad, or is that you, Roxanne?” he wearily asked.

“You haven’t been here that long. Give yourself some credit,” she playfully quipped, but then turned serious when she saw how bad off Axel was.

“Mother Wolf!” she cried, ripping off a piece of fabric and gently dabbing at a nasty gash running along his cheek to his side burns. “We’ll have you out of here soon.”

“I’m down not out,” Axel told her after Roxanne freed him. “Where are the others?”

“Hans is looking for Lucille while Blaire is trying to replace Olaf,” she told them and took a breath. “Tyler sadly didn’t make it.”

“The minotaur?”

“Olaf.”

Axel didn’t have time to show remorse when the sound of bullets cut through the air from a distance. The two werewolves peered through the bushes as they saw Blaire advancing forward along the wall towards Olaf’s own position. They both took turns taking shots at one another while ducking for cover along the rigid stones that was the wall.

“At least she’s keeping him busy,” Roxanne declared.

“No kidding. Let’s replace the others and then get the hell out of here,” Axel suggested.

He tapped the nerve on his neck as he keyed in their comrades.

“Lucille?!” he exclaimed. “Thank god.”

“It’s alright, I’m with Hans. Where are you two?” Lucille asked.

Roxanne had tap wired into their conversation.

“I think we’re east of where the portal was,” Roxanne replied trying to rethink her steps.

“Was?!”

“We had to shut it for the minotaur to retreat. There was no way we were going to fight him in a small proximity.”

“Head back towards the west then,” Lucille replied. “We’re going to need everyone to scout if we’re going to reopen it.”

“We’re on our way,” said Axel.

“Be careful coming in. We’ve set up a perimeter,” Hans warned, before letting them go.

Axel looked a little relieved. “At least we know it wasn’t the minotaur that got them.”

Something burst from the bushes ready to take them both down.

“Nope, he’s here with us,” Roxanne retorted dryly.

The braying beast had found them, swinging his ax mercilessly as they barely managed to miss the blade.

The minotaur advanced towards Axel. Axel fired back at him with his colt pistol, but the bull man deflected the bullets with his axe. Roxanne gazed up at the hanging tapestry that the minotaur walked under and shot at the top.

The fabric came swinging down on his head. Axel again fired once he struggled to rip it off and this time made a few shots. The minotaur bellowed in rage as he shook the tapestry off and charged forward once again. His leather hide could take more blows than expected.

“Time to go!” Axel declared bluntly, pocketing his gun and running.

Roxanne did the same. The two fled as fast as they could while managing to properly shift. It was at the last moment that they sprinted forward on all fours toward the west as the minotaur pursued relentlessly.

Axel and Roxanne split to the sides of a tree in their path. The minotaur persisted after Roxanne.

“Stop following me!” she yelled, frustrated. “I’m not giving you any more treats!”

Up ahead, Roxanne recognized the subtle but unmistakable trip wire Lucille and Hans had lying in wait. She sped forward as Axel made a sharp right turn. Roxanne could practically feel the minotaur’s breath on the back of her tail as his sprint quickened.

At the last possible moment, she leapt over the wire as the monster sprawled right into it. Upon impact the wire erupted like a bomb and an electrical bolt. It was deafening as well as strong enough to send the minotaur sprawling.

Only a few seconds passed as he growled and struggled to retrieve his axe, but Roxanne was right back on it.

She had circled around the moment her feet had landed and the monster set off the trap. Turning up dirt as her claws ripped up the soil, she sprang forward more dangerous and ready than ever.

“FOOLED YA!” she growled through gaping jaws.

Baring her claws and teeth, she struggled with the minotaur to keep him down and from retrieving his axe. Lucille, Hans, and Axel joined in.

In a chaotic, brutal turmoil of flesh ripping, blood splattering, and fur flying, all beasts inflicted wounds while enduring their own.

With a rush of energy, the minotaur managed to get a grip around Axel. Roxanne and the others tried to work their way below his armor to deliver a fatal blow as Axel struggled.

Despite Axel’s size and strength, the mad bull man slashed his great head to one side. No-one could prevent his horns from goring into Axel’s belly. A grunt followed by a wet gurgle as the wind was knocked out of him and blood foamed into his mouth. He couldn’t even scream.

“Axel!” Roxanne screamed through her muzzle. Axel went limp as the minotaur released his grip and horn from his abdomen. Her mentor slumped down to the ground. The remaining three werewolves scratched and mauled even harder. Unfortunately, all three lost their grip and were thrown to the ground, barely missing the monster’s razor-sharp horns.

Lucille rushed to Axel’s aid as she tried to stop the bleeding by adding pressure.

“Axel! Honey! Stay with me!” she pleaded. It was all she could do as she tried to bring him back to consciousness.

The minotaur glared at the fallen werewolf and menacingly made his way over to finish the job. Roxanne felt frozen in terror as she tried to strategize.

“Roxanne, we need to deliver a harder blow!” Hans called. “Lead him over here!”

She snapped herself out of her state of shock and turned to see what he meant.

Hans had wrapped the remaining trip wire around one of the half rotten poles that one of the nymph tapestries hung from. There was a small x shaped in the dirt.

“Just get him close enough!”

Without thinking, Roxanne lifted her crossbow and fired it as close as she could to his neck. It simply imbedded itself into the nape. Not enough to kill him but surely enough to get him pissed. He turned his attention towards her now.

“Worthy opponent?!” she screamed as she chucked a rock at him, “You couldn’t even kill a girl half your size when you had the chance!”

He fixed her with a cruel stare as he brandished his axe and shot forward.

Roxanne retreated past the “X” but tripped over the fallen log it was hidden behind.

The minotaur raised his ax but didn’t have time to react to the collapsing piece of lumber as Hans set off the trap. The heavy wood shattered into splinters as its weight crushed the Minotaur into the ground, sending his axe flying.

As the bull man tried to lift the heavy object off, Hans, Roxanne, and even Lucille jumped back into action.

Leaving him no momentum to fight back, the wolves bore down mercilessly upon their enemy. Teeth bared, and claws savage, Lucille and Hans managed to pry apart the armored plates to expose the soft parts of his throat.

For the next moment, it was as if all of Roxanne’s humanity had fled and only the wolf remained.

Coming down on the creature, she tore apart the rest of his armor and clamped her muzzle into his neck and shook her head violently.

He raked into her back with his claws, as she continued to maul him. Her mouth filled with blood. She didn’t stop until her teeth clicked bone.

One final spasm from the minotaur and one final snap from her jaws sealed his fate.

He violently struggled as his nerves gave one last twitch. Roxanne drew back, muzzle glistening red.

The direblood let out a satisfied sigh.

Weary and covered in blood, Roxanne healed herself as her spur automatically poked out from her wrist. She sealed her wounds before his blood became too cold for her to tolerate.

The three looked down on their kill. All were relieved that a dangerous burden had been lifted.

“Good Hunt to the both of you. I had better check on Axel,” Lucille finally told them, breaking the entrancing silence.

“We’ll go replace Blaire and Olaf,” Hans replied in lieu of an agreement.

Roxanne and Hans shifted back through the scents to replace their human companion.

It was the end of the line for Olaf. Blaire had shot the rocks out from under him, causing them to avalanche and slide with him. When he tried to retrieve his gun after losing it in the fall, Roxanne quickly subdued him by setting a nest of brownies on him as Hans kicked his gun away.

Once he was defenseless, Blaire hurled herself on him like a lioness. She pounded his face with both hands until his face was left bloody and his broken teeth clicked on the rocks next to them.

They gave him a moment to come back to his senses. He gazed up at them with a swollen, purple, bloody face.

“Tying up loose ends,” he calmly replied. “Pity you hadn’t done it sooner. Poor Tyler.”

Blaire was about to strike him again, but Hans held her back.

“Glad to see you learned to fight like a pack,” Olaf said, turning to Roxanne. “If only you hadn’t put so many in danger learning to do so.”

Roxanne shook her head.

“You bringing me to the brink of death awakened a much greater weapon that I hadn’t even known existed,” she told him as she lifted her left hand. “I suppose it was one of your downfalls.”

“What happens after this?” Olaf asked. “You go and replace the Familiar Queen, and then save all the once and future rabids?”

All of them were silent. They just studied him, feeling cold and empty.

“Say what you want about me,” Olaf spat out a cracked tooth, following a dribble of blood. “I at least provided a place for them in the world. Can you say the same for your cherished “Mother Wolf”?”

Hans and Roxanne parted ways for Blaire. She looked him dead in the eyes and cocked the hammer on her pistol and aimed it at Olaf’s head.

“Doing a favor for someone that you’ve forced into a corner doesn’t make you their savior. Rot in Peace, Olaf.”

She pulled the trigger.

***

The group dragged on back through the leak, supporting their wounded and arriving back into the shipping yard.

Back in Anchorslotte, the Pack caught sight of the police hauling away the remainders of the illegal operation. Though the lycanthropes were far off, they could still hear their squabble and protests.

“You have the right to remain silent,” one officer began reciting.

“You don’t get it! This isn’t how things were supposed to go,” the man screamed. “Dammit, where’s OLAF!”

“Hey, those look like the remaining satyrs,” Roxanne stated, crawling closer to get a better look. “They must not have made it through the leak in time.”

“Too bad, without it opened, they’re less likely to transform back,” explained Lucille.

From below, the officer forced the disguised satyr into a pair of handcuffs. “Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law.”

“. . .What the hell is a lawyer!?” another screamed before being shut into a car.

The pack watched them from atop the roof as before, amused at their well-deserved bad luck.

“Not so fun when you’re the one stranded,” Hans declared coldly.

“We had better head off if we don’t want to share the same cell,” Axel warned while clenching his jaw in pain.

They hadn’t gone five feet when something caught their attention and stopped them dead in their tracks.

The image of a sinister vine infested forest in the midst of the rooftop stood out like a nail in a plank.

“Another leak?” Blaire asked.

“That’s not likely. There’s barely any energy drawing from it,” Hans explained.

“Clearly it is,” Lucille argued.

“We would have felt something,” he replied.

“Roxanne. . .” Axel gasped, cutting them short.

The young woman turned to him. “Look,” he said as he pointed to the far right. They all looked over to see what he was referring too.

Painted against the side of the wall of the higher level of the building, was a crude painting of grinning cat with a grotesque message inked in red.

“ZAAC MISSES YOU.”

The dire blood stared back at the mocking words, contemplating and conflicted.

“I can’t leave him behind,” she told them.

“You want to just go after him? Right into the snake pit?” Hans gasped.

Roxanne didn’t say anything. She just bit her lip and nodded slightly. She couldn’t bring herself to look at him in case they tried to change her mind.

“This is suicide, Roxanne,” Lucille told her. “You can come back after you’ve rested up and loaded more supplies.”

“There may not be a next time,” Roxanne told them. “Don’t you see? The odds are in her favor. She’s never going to grant us another one.”

Hans scoffed. “If this is all about feeling guilt for the remnant, then you risking your life is more in vain than anything else possible.”

“It’s not just that,” she cut him off. “He could be the key to withstanding Allosfaire just as much as Blaire is to our truce with the humans.”

He stared at her in silence as she continued on.

“We’ve all seen what happens to those who stray and those who are hunted down with our own eyes. If another century or a millennium goes by, who’s to say we won’t have all died out by then?”

There were tears in her eyes and a lump in her throat. Her beloved comrades held her gaze with sympathy and regret.

Nothing they could say would change her mind. Even they knew there was no turning back.

Instinct took over the next few moments as Roxanne reached out to Lucille and Blaire and gave them a small embrace. They both held her sweetly. She squeezed Axel’s hands as he smiled at her weakly. He was using the bulk of his energy to remain conscious.

Then, she stood on her tiptoes and let Hans hold her.

A strange sadness reflected in his grey eyes.

“Don’t die on me, Rox,” he said as he gave her a tender kiss on her forehead.

Roxanne lifted her hand to his gruff cheek.

“Don’t forget my trick up my sleeve,” she replied, giving him a wink.

“Once we get Axel to a medic we’ll return and help,” Lucille assured her.

“Do what you can, but this is something I must do,” Roxanne replied turning to her.

The sound of the police’s advance was growing nearer. Roxanne grew worried.

“Go!”

They gave a slight nod before retreating into darkness. A moment passed and only the dire blood remained, along with the leak that beckoned her like a fish to the jaws of a snapping turtle.

“Up here! Up on the roof! Clear a perimeter!” she heard them command.

Roxanne calmly exhaled the clear earth’s atmosphere. It was time she braved the old realm’s air.

The police shot up the stairs with guns drawn and aimed.

Roxanne shook her head and laughed.

“Thank you for your service,” she whispered, stepping into the leak before they arrived. “But my testament must wait for another night.”

The moment she was through, the portal began closing. The last image she had was a view of the police arriving before she disappeared completely.

Separated from the human world, she put one foot in front of the other. Taking in a deep breath, Roxanne braved back into the world beyond the storm.