Pete's howl was cut off. He'd sensed my transition and now he sat back, waiting for the next move. It was mine and I shot off from the patio. I was everywhere at once. I could see all the wolves, how they hunched down behind their hiding spots. Some overlooked the vampires, but most of them still hadn't found where Roane's small army waited. The element of surprise was everything among these two supernatural beings.
Bastion stood behind a tree. His form was camouflaged. I wouldn't have known he was there except for the blood pumping in him. His eyes were closed and he waited. He sensed where they were and they hadn't moved close enough for an attack. Gregory had taken a position behind a boulder. The giant blonde Viking had a bow and arrow in hand, notched and ready to fly. He waited for Bastion's signal.
Then I saw Wren and Tracey. Both knelt down behind a small wall. Each looked graceful, content with their heads bent between their knees. They, like all the others, were waiting. Roane and Gavin stood on separate ends of their area. Unlike the others, they didn't hide. They stood at the tip of their hill. They wanted the attention. They wanted the wolves to come to them.
Roane's head bent and his nostrils flared. He had sensed me. When his head turned towards me, I knew he wanted to see me so I stepped forward.
"What are you doing?"
Gavin tilted his head to the side. "You look good with the white eyes."
I'd forgotten how I looked as the Immortal. I smirked at him. "He wants to be invisible." My anger sparked and magic exploded inside me. "So you will be instead."
Gavin's mouth started to open, but he was gone in the next second. So was Roane. And I knew all the others were too. They were now the invisible ones among the night. Only the wolves remained in true form. I felt Pete's shock when the magic exploded. He knew the thread holder was present, but the new power in the air was a surprise.
Then I bent backwards and my body swooshed to Brown. When I landed behind her, she didn't react. She had no idea I was there so I reached inside of her. My hand found the box where her magic was locked. It was stretched at the seams, ready to explode. My thumb brushed against the lock and the door opened an inch. Magic slipped through and Brown gasped. Her back arched upwards. Her arms shot out. I could see the blood rushing through her. The ends of her fingers tingled and sparks shot out.
The box's lid remained in place. Even as I watched, I saw how it was trying to close again. Magic older than me had put it there. It fought against the Immortal. Something moved in me and I knew it was a response to Brown's box. The magic surrounding it was angered by my interference, but the Immortal's magic was too powerful. I reached back in and lifted it once more. It went open all the way, but when my finger moved away, the lid started to close once again.
"Oh my god," she shrieked and squealed at the same time. In the next moment, she had her eyes closed and was chanting. If I'd been nervous she couldn't control her magic, it would've been for nothing. Brown had complete control over herself. The magic filled her and the paleness of her skin grew into a rosy tan. The fear was gone. She glowed.
"Thank you, Davy," she spoke in the next breath.
A wolf howled in pain. The sound split through the night air.
It had begun.
I lifted my head and was there in the next moment. Wren pulled her sword back and stood over the wolf. Its body quivered in pain underneath her feet. It lifted his head and looked at her, but the fight quickly left its body, its neck slumping back down.
The first kill went to the vampires. Pete's anger exploded into full force. He leapt through the air, right behind Wren and Tracey. Both vampires jumped out of the way, but his mouth was opened. One of his fangs nicked Tracey's leg and she screamed. Her body twisted and convulsed. Poison from him shot through the vampire. Wren screamed and lunged in the air. Her sword was poised above her head, ready to strike, but he turned his head. He waited, ready to open his powerful mouth.
I appeared in that moment. He turned to see me and sniffed into me. His eyes widened. He wasn't ready for what he saw, but it didn't matter. Wren's sword pierced his eye in that moment. Instead of reeling back from pain, he snapped his jaw at her. I threw myself forward and opened my arms. A light from me blinded him and he recoiled.
"What the—" Wren gasped, but he was gone. She ran to Tracey.
I knelt on the other side of her and reached inside. The poison was flowing throughout her entire body. There was a glazed look in her eye and her body began convulsing in a seizure. Her head was thrown back and her body lifted off the ground. When her eyes met mine, I knew she saw me. Wren had no idea I was there. I was invisible to her, but it didn't matter. Tracey's blood saw the thread in me, the same one that had been in her sister and mother before that. I felt her mother's essence battling to get back into me. It wanted to rejoin the Immortal, but it couldn't. It was still locked inside of Pete, but Tracey saw that too.
"Mom?" Her eyes were white around them.
"Tracey, honey, don't go. Stay with me." Wren patted her cheeks.
"You," she gasped. Her tongue got stuck and she repeated the word over and over. Her throat was convulsing at the same time. Her eyes locked onto mine. I couldn't look away.
Wren lifted her head and looked around. Sounds of battle filled the air now. Wolves growled. They whelped. They screamed.
My eyes couldn't leave Tracey's in that moment, so I went into her. My empathic nature shifted and separated from the Immortal. I felt her fear, but I also felt her yearning. She wanted her family back. She loved Wren, but she had returned because of me. I was connected to her sister and she wanted her back. The love she had for her sister and mother was blinding. It brought tears to my eyes. Before I left her, I took some of the fear from her. She calmed and her body lay back down on the ground.
Wren's fear subsided then.
My empathic side connected with the Immortal again and I reached inside of Tracey. I sucked the poison into my hand. Unlike the vampire, the poison bonded with me. It was from the essence of the Immortal and it wanted to be back with its master. When I stood back, Tracey was already healing. I watched as her strength sparked and built. Wren sat back and gaped in relief. Before long, both of them were looking at the other. No words were shared, but they turned as one and jumped at a passing werewolf.
I returned to Brown the next moment and found her bent over the deck's edge. She cast spell after spell below her. Werewolves had braved the treacherous terrain. They were slowly inching their way up. It wouldn't be long before they overcame us.
Brown groaned as she gritted her teeth. Magic sparked from her fingertips. One by one, werewolves fell, but then they got back on the cliff. It was as if she had never hit them. I snapped back to my human form and could feel their magic in the air. The Alpha was keeping them from falling to their deaths.
"Brown," I said.
She gasped. "They won't die. Why won't they die?"