I Am A Monster

I Am A Monster : Chapter 13

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Chapter 13

Is Emma alive? I wonder.

A million thoughts go through my head. If she's my sister, then why have I only had a vision of her now? She's not in the pack; she would have shocked me right into a vision. I remember her wolf being pitch black--why are so many wolves black?--and her hard, determined, icy blue eyes. I see her regal face, a head held high, a sharp chin that juts slightly outwards, and her thick brown hair that falls to her waist. I remember her pale face, and the sparkle in her eyes when she's amused. I want to sob, but also to tear apart the damn vampire that did this to me. So much has been taken from me. It's so unfair. Then I tell myself to stop thinking like a child.

Emma's somewhere out there, I know it. So why do I have such a feeling of dread in my stomach?

Just then, I hear a howl. Immediately, I transform into my wolf form and sniff. The stench of vampires enters my nostrils, and I want to run. Instead I stand, frozen, every hair on my neck standing straight up. A small army of them, marching from the West. From below, I hear the mixed sounds of humans crying out in alarm and fear, mixed with fearsome, protective snarls from wolves.

Why have we stayed here so long? I think to myself. They clearly keep catching our scent. We need to scatter it.

I run down the ridge, howling in fear and alarm. Women hold their babies close, their eyes wide with fear. Men and boys morph, and I hope against hopes that it's not the last time they ever transform. I grab Black Flame, which is strapped to my belt, and unsheathe the blade, pointing it in the direction of our enemy.

What comes over the opposite ridge is so surprising that I almost drop Black Flame.

Our enemy is swarming over the ridge. Dozens. I haven't seen an army like this since our first attack, when me, Marcus, and Amari were saved.

Marcus. I regret what I said to him more than anything now. If he goes into battle, and he doesn't come out, and those are the last words I would have said to him....

No. I shake the vision out of my head. He'll survive. He always does.

Should I fight as a human, or as a wolf?

Leading the army is the king himself. When he sees us, his eyes, once milky blue but now a bright, vivid crimson, light up.

"ATTACK!" he screams, and his army roars in agreement and charges with renewed effort.

SCCRRAASSHH! The tearing of flesh has to be heard for miles, from the two clashing sides. I wince and morph, charging into battle. Half a second before I kill my first victim, I transform into my human form, unsheathe Black Flame, and swing straight down. A teenaged girl, looking about seventeen, lights up in black flames with a terrified scream, before vaporizing into ash. I swing wildly with Black Flame, carving a circle in my enemies. Amari fights besides me, her chocolate brown wolf leaping at preoccupied enemies, snapping their neck, and leaping back again, waiting for another opening. Then Marcus is there too, his deep, dark black coat shining in the sunlight, his teeth bared and glistening. I realize his fur is as black as my pulsing blade.

Pulsing?

I then realize that it is pulsing. The blade feels like it has a heart.

Thumpa-thumpa-thrump. Thumpa-thumpa-thrump.

Over and over again.

"Yaaaaaah!" I scream, slashing down on a man that looks like royalty. "Take that, and go to hell!"

Amari and Marcus snarl fearsomely next to me, picking off warriors that dare to come near. They try to swarm us multiple times, but every time I use the mind link to tell Amari and Marcus to duck before carving an arc in our enemies and making Amari and Marcus cough up ash.

'Take that, sucker!" I yell as I stab a strong, regal-looking woman. Her face is livid, at least until my blade sinks into her gut and she bursts into black flames before vaporizing un-heroically into a useless pile of dust-gray ash.

I'm going in, I think to Amari and Marcus.

They both send back agreements and admonish me not to get careless. Then I sheathe my dagger and jump into the crowd, morphing in midair.

Immediately, a dagger rakes my back. I swivel around and sink my teeth into the vampire who did it, who screams and stumbles back, clutching her arm and howling in pain, looking at the deep puncture marks of my bite and watching the blood flow down her arm. I lash out again, and she dodges out of the way. My teeth snap shut with an empty, metallic click four inches from her thigh, and she screams in fear, stumbling backwards. I run forward, lashing out a third time and closing my teeth around her leg with such ferocity that she utters a loud, high-pitched scream of agony and attempts to turn and run.

I don't let her.

I dodge a swing from another vampire and, without wasting a second, snap her neck. She topples over, lifeless and still bleeding ferociously, and charge back into the crowd, slashing and snapping at random vampires and dodging all swings and bites.

I don't know how long I'm fighting for. Suddenly, I have no enemies left and barely any damage. I morph and walk up to Amari, still in her wolf form, and panting, standing in a circle of vampire ash. She looks up at me, and I can see the exhaustion in her eyes. She morphs and lies on the ground, attempting to collect herself. I help her stand up and hobble towards camp.

"We've been here too long," Sabrina announces to the grave werewolves who are still standing. Some groan, others nod understandingly. "I've heard of a Werewolf Kingdom, one of the last in existence. We need to find it."

"Where is it?" I ask.

She looks over at me. "Seventy miles or so," she says.

There are a few collective groans, and she glares at the people who let them escape their mouths. Then she sighs and walks away, starting to try to collect the dead.

In the distance, I hear a heartbroken howl of a wolf who's lost her sister, and think of Maggie, out in the woods in her wolf form, missing her sister terribly, and decide that I will find Emma no matter what, so I don't have to go through that.