Dark Lover

Lynx - Part 11

"Storm Elemental," Zass told me as he gestured me to follow him.  We hurried onwards through the maze as he told me a bit more.  "They can't be harmed by their own storms unless the poles change on them."

"Which you made happen when you threw those... what were they?  Iron filings, on it?" I asked.

"Yeah, the effect was close enough for our purposes." Zass said, and pulled me along behind him, striding with confidence down another part of the maze.  We reached the centre of the maze and came out into a wide clearing with a small shrine in the middle.  Zass stopped abruptly as Mirth stepped from behind a column. 

"Zass," she said nodding in his direction.  "Meg and Dimity sent you didn't they?"

He approached cautiously and nodded.  "Do you want to leave?"  He asked making sure she was still a captive.

"More than anything, I was about to give up and fade when I overheard Lynx and Sebastian talking about your arrival in Las Vegas." She said, before backing away.  "But you two should just leave." She added after looking at me.

"Why, what is it?" Zass asked as she turned to flee.

"You and your Lover here are in over your heads.  Bohdan is the scariest creature I've ever seen in the ring.  Since he became Alpha his strength and speed have become freakishly impressive.  I've seen him tear opponents into bloody pieces in seconds."  She shook her head sadly.  "Not to mention Iris's test."  She shook herself and looked back towards the viewing platform.  Then turned to leave.

"Can you tell us anything to help? I asked quickly.

"Don't drink from the crystal goblet." She called as she disappeared behind the shrine.

We looked at each other and shrugged.  Time was ticking away and we moved towards the opposite side of the clearing, expecting another sudden appearance at any moment.  We weren't disappointed when four Weres charged us all at once, almost falling over each other as they rushed into the clearing.  Zass let the first one slip past him and head for me, as he faced down the other three, letting them see their deaths in his eyes.  I had taken a step backwards to give him room to move and had my gun out before I even knew I'd drawn it.  I pumped two shots into my first Were and he stopped in his tracks.  As his fur melted away and was replaced by the face of a confused young man, I regretted the kill shot, but not enough to lose sleep over.  I looked over at Zass and the other three Weres.  One was on the ground, panting and bleeding from multiple slash injuries.  The other two were trying to get him to expose his throat and were darting in as fast as they could, trying to do as much damage as possible while avoiding his wickedly sharp sword.  He'd obviously used his claws on the first one before having the time to draw it.  As the other two kept up their onslaught I saw his shirt was already becoming mere strips of cloth, than anything resembling a shirt when I managed to get a clear shot and fired at the closest Were.  They hadn't been paying any attention to me so I took the first one by surprise.  The second lost a precious second of reaction time and darted in too late.

As his jaws opened to bite, Zass was already there grasping the Were's head in his powerful hands and squeezing.  Urgent whines turned into a howl as Zass slowly crushed its skull.  Fur flowed away revealing human skin as Zass dropped the body to the ground and turned to check on me.  I nodded at his question, "You good?"

We checked the other two Weres which were still alive.  The one I'd shot was lying on the ground in a pool of blood, gut shot and grimacing in pain, the silver bullet slowing his healing to human speed.  The other one Zass had turned into shreds was almost back to fighting strength and though I wanted to be merciful I knew we couldn't afford it under the circumstances so I aimed for his head.  Zass took the decision from my hands though and his sword sliced cleanly through the Were's neck, the two pieces falling to the ground as we heard more Weres approaching.