Filed to story: Sorry Alpha I Am Wolfless Novel
Within minutes, the split of troops was decided upon. Shifters from wolf, bear, and feline packs were spread evenly as were the warlocks and vampires that had been summoned for this fight. It was the best we could do for now, but I was sure that it would be more than enough.
Soon, I saw the hoard for myself as it crested a hill in the distance. There had to be at least two hundred monsters approaching.The sight of all those twisted, mutated bodies as they shambled closer with dead, lifeless, zombie like eyes and expressions, it was enough to send a chill down my spine and make me shiver.
“Nearly time.” I heard Joaquin declare to those around us. “Be ready and take no mercy. They used to be shifters but there is nothing of their old selves left. They’re nothing but mindless weapons for Edmond now.”
“Yes, Sir.” A chorus echoed softly through those gathered around us.
“And if you see anyone who is not a mutant, let us know. It will most likely be a warlock. We’re on the lookout for the coven leader but that doesn’t mean he won’t send in his cronies as well.”
“Understood.” The group chorus again.
Just hearing them speak as a group made me think about my dream and that premonition. The group speaking as a whole was so much like the voices in my dream. The voices of Edmond’s children. The voices of my long dead siblings. My heart ached as I thought about them.
I pictured their faces, their features that were so similar to my own. I pictured their clothes, an array of fashion and styles from different eras through the last couple hundred years. I imagined what they might have been like had they not died, had our shared tormenter not murdered them and snuffed out their life’s candle too soon.
These thoughts brought a tear to my eye. Just one solitary tear that rolled out of the corner of my eye and streaked an invisible path down my clean, pale cheek. I didn’t have the time, nor the energy, to spare on tears right now. I would mourn them all once I had murdered our father and allowed them to finally find peace.
“I will avenge you, all of you.” I whispered quietly to myself. “He will pay for what he’s done to us all.” I felt the firm conviction in my heart as the truth of the words rang inside my head. I knew I would succeed, I had no other choice. My surety spread through me, enveloping me in a warmth that was secure and comforting.
“Alright Edmond, I’m ready for you.”
****
Riviana
****
I watched on, my apprehension growing by the second, as that purple swirling smoke moved ever closer. This was it. This was the start of the battle that would determine the future. Not only my future but Reese’s, my family’s, the pack’s, the entire world’s. This was the battle to end all battles for us. We needed to eliminate Edmond here and now.
All around me, shifters of various types, vampires, and warlocks all assumed their fighting stances. Different though they may be and unique in and of themselves, they were all ready to fight for what was right. I was proud of every one of these warriors, no matter their species. For now we were all one pack, all one family, fighting to protect those we cared about.
The first monster appeared seemingly from thin air, nothing there one second and the next a twelve foot tall monstrosity. The first beast I saw was a tangled mass of limbs and torsos. This creature was so different from the last ones we had fought that I almost didn’t think it was the same thing at all.
What we had seen before was a mixture of two shifters somehow blended and molded together like some sort of horror villain in a claymation movie. They were grotesque and vomit inducing but manageable somehow.
But these horrors, these beasts that slowly marched towards us, they looked like cutting room rejects from a monster movie. Sights so horrible that they couldn’t even be put into the final production.
These beasts had no less than four shifters or people melded together. There were parts that looked more human than anything else, no partial or full shift, just human flesh and bones. Perhaps they were warlocks or some other shadow creature.
In these tangled masses, I saw multiple heads in and around the areas that I guess would be considered the neck. Some had two torsos, and most had multiple extra sets of arms and legs. There were some very animalistic qualities as well, proof of shifters in the mix. Wolves, bears, felines, birds, deer, they were all blended into these mixes.
There were so many horrors that it was hard to look anywhere without feeling pity and anger at the same time. Edmond had created a new army after experimenting on even more people. I would not let this slide. I would show him what it meant to hold the life of another person in his hands and have the ultimate power of destruction or life at your fingertips. There was nothing he could do to redeem himself or save himself, he will be dying this time. I will be ending his life.
Once the initial shock and anger of seeing these creatures, these once men, had worn off it was time for us all, especially me, to get down to business. I pulled my magic out of me, wrapping twice as much of it around me as I had grown accustomed to. Once my magic was swirling around me, invisibly but still somehow physically, I summoned my arrows as my primary weapon. I saw Joaquin summon his whip and sword and ready himself for the battle before us.
Those at the front of the lines, the first to meet the beasts, had already begun to fight. The warlocks were both shielding our troops as well as sending out attacks. I watched as one monstrosity took a shining yellow ball of light straight to the chest and was immediately pounced on by a large black bear, a member of Trevor’s pack. The bear bit down with his powerful jowls and clawed at the thing’s face and arms. But even with the team effort they didn’t seem to be doing very much damage at all.
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the monster’s injuries. There were bright red lines and gouges but no blood or anything. And to make matters worse, the beasts didn’t seem to be phased by the attacks at all. What had Edmond done to them this time? How had he changed them?
While I watched a particularly nasty looking beast rise in front of a group of warriors I released a barrage of my arrows, two of each element just to be sure. Half of the arrows seemed to have no effect at all, only the wind and the fire even seemed to affect the thing.
When the monster was struck by the fire arrow, it didn’t pierce its skin but it did set the beast on fire. The wind arrow, made of nothing more than fast moving air, was the only one that was able to pierce its flesh.
I didn’t have the time to loose another set of my arrows just yet. The group in front of that beast, and therefore in front of me, began to scatter as the flames rose and swelled into a massive blaze. The next thing that I knew the thing had fallen forward and looked like a giant bonfire lighting the field.
I readied more arrows, prepared to take out more of the monstrosities as they waged their attack. I focused on the wind and fire arrows, summoning hundreds of them. I attacked at least a dozen creatures, but only two of them seemed to be affected this time. What was going on?
That was when I looked more closely at the monsters lumbering around us. They were all similar in their blended, melded looking appearance, but there were also differences I hadn’t noticed at first. Some of them seemed to be made of dry, cracked, paper looking, albeit very sturdy, skin. That explained the burning of the first monster.
Other beasts looked like they were covered with something more like flesh colored sludge. There were others, also seemingly made of different elemental backings. One even seemed more bark-like than fleshy. What had happened to them all.
I guessed that the different flesh types would be susceptible to different elements. I tried a lightning arrow on the sludgy, fluid looking monster that was built like a tank. Those arrows did their job. That was good.
I tried again with fire, attacking the wooden, paper, and mud looking beasts. The wood and paper ones burned, turning into giant bonfires, and the mud looking monster hardened into what looked like old clay and began to crack and crumble apart. Good, I was figuring out how to handle them.
I saw another type of beast, that was unlike the others. It was flickering and slightly orange, like it was made of fire, or more so like it had fire under its skin. Those beasts I attacked with water and ice. The attack was a success. Thank the Goddess.
Next, I wanted to try the water looking ones. They looked soft and pliable but were hard as stone. I knew right away how to fight that one. Shane and I had that advantage. Lightning would fry them from the inside out. Sure enough, once it was hit by an arrow of pure lightning, the thing began to thrash about and fell to the ground, lying dead at the feet of the other warriors.
There was one more type I didn’t know how to deal with. This monster seemed to be blowing things over as it walked. Its wind affinity was so strong it was like a walking hurricane. How did I fight that one? How do you fight the wind itself?
This would take some contemplation. All my arrows were knocked away from the beast instantly. And most warriors were blown away before they could get close. What was I to do?
While I contemplated I contacted everyone that was fighting. I focused on my mindlink with them all. I needed to tell them about the elemental issues.
