Quiver

32

Roman

Blood.

I was covered in so much blood and we weren't even done just yet. My eyes scanned around for Rori and I spotted her in the middle of everyone, by Bree. Her fur was matted with blood and she had worry etched across her wolfish face. I carefully made my way to her as everyone gingerly picked themselves up so as not to slip in the mass amount of blood or pushed bodies out of the way to make a path.

As I got to Rori, she looked at me with her bluer eyes and gave a short whine followed by a wave of uneasy feeling through our bond. I knew why she was worried, we all were. Claire was next and since I hadn't seen Jace in the massacre, he was as well. I nuzzled her ear until I felt her wave of unease dwindle to a more controlled feeling as the tingles erupted between us.

A loud huff pulled us apart and my eyes shot to the sound, it coming from Elliere who stared at us with impatient eyes. I gave a growl of annoyance, but got into position again with Rori. I understood his need to keep moving. If we stopped now, we'd stop all together because we were so tired from all the fighting already. But this needed to happen. We were so close I could practically taste our freedom, our release of worry over who would or could be taken next. The knowledge that we'd be making everyone safe within the area and rescuing the supernatural in the cages made my determination rise even further causing my annoyance to evaporate.

The silence was deafening as we walked on down the halls, even Elliere on two feet instead of four was amazingly quiet. Of course, the quiet was also a bit unsettling. We all were expecting Claire and Jaecars to jump out, shouting 'boo' and then slaughtering us all. Or worse, capturing us. But really we knew capture wasn't possible at this point. Instead, it was merely a bit of a wait until we actually found them.

As we made our way through the rows of cages, the tortured supernaturals begged for release and it made me wince. I wished I could let them out now, but none of us knew if they would help, get in the way or turn against us for whatever reason. Plus taking down Claire was more important and then we could worry about freeing them.

Elliere led us closer and closer to a back door. Not very big, probably Claire's "office" I would guess. As we all approached we grew tenser, preparing for what was to come. Elliere made his way to the door, looming outside. He glanced back at us, gave us a nod and swung his clawed hand back. He rammed it forward, shredding the door and we all expected screams or shouts of surprise.

None came and all of us were even more alert.

Elliere was looking into the door with shock and utter fear. We all poured forward and beside me Rori let out a half snarl half whimper as she seen that the office was... empty.

Entirely empty.

Instantly the thought raced through my mind and I just... I couldn't believe that she would have planned it. That she would have been one step ahead of us, but as we raced out of the compound, passed dead bodies, and the trucks we came in, I knew that she had. Claire had managed to see our attack coming and had left a number of Jaecars closer in the facility while she and another number were alerted and left to our pack house while we fought. The thought was utterly terrifying.

Claire was at our pack house with our Elders and young Lupus. And she was probably torturing them or just slaughtering and destroying the house.

Waves upon waves of emotions rattled through the pack bonds, the main, easy to point out one being fear. It made all of our hearts beat harshly and our eyes wild. Flashes of blood and bodies raced through my mind over and over again as we tore through the forest. I tried to stay focused, but it was nearly impossible. I tripped over logs and uneven ground that I normally was so good at avoiding.

The run felt like an eternity passed by and as we emerged from the woods to see our house, it looked like one had. The house was torn through, the scent of them lingering in the air along with pure fear. The stench of fear was overpowering and all of us rushed forward just as Bree slammed into the driveway, we had forgotten about her in our rush to get home. By the slight scowl on her face she wasn't happy about it, but as her eyes took in the house that irritation melted into fear just like everyone else's.

Bree climbed out of the truck so fast she stumbled and rushed over to us. None of us had shifted back and we wouldn't until we checked the inside. Dread filled me all over again.

"I didn't see any Jaecars running away on my drive over....so they must still be here," Bree whispered lowly.

Just as she said those words, a scream echoed through the house. That was all we needed to surge onto the trashed porch, careful of the holes made in it. The door was broken in, splintered across the living room floor and the living room itself was a disaster with furniture shattered or dirty. We split off into teams with half of us going to check the basement and the other half just checking the main floor. I was with the half on the main floor and as we raced through we found the kitchen a mess like the living room, the many rooms on the floor a mess and the Elders favorite porch an absolutely saddening mess as well meaning no one was on this floor.

There was nothing through the bond and as we came back to the living room, the other half of the pack was there too so that meant no one was in the basement either. Another scream caught the air and it came from upstairs. We raced up the steps, finding all the doors tore down here as well except these rooms were filled with Jaecars who jumped out at us as we began to pass by.

Snarls and growls, whimpers and yelps filled the house as we all once again engaged battle with the vile humans. Surprisingly, these Jaecars didn't have any different weapons, but they were better trained. I winced as a knife narrowling missed sinking into my back and snarled at the Jaecar as I lunged for her arm that held the knife. She jerked away quickly and spun away, only to come back and slam the knife into my hind leg.

A strangled yelp escaped my muzzle as fire raced through my leg. I staggered and watched as the smirking, vile woman approached, ready to finish me off. But I watched as a streak of red light slammed into her, literally through her body and tore out her heart. I turned with wide eyes to see Bree glaring in disgust at the Jaecar and gave her a grateful nod.

Minutes, maybe an hour later and my knife had been pulled out. Bodies littered our home and we, aside from a few wounds, were still standing. As we limped and crawled to the last room -- Yorik's -- we came face to face with a horror that shocked and enraged us all.