Finding the kitchen wasn't hard at all. Even with my insensitive, human, nose the smell of pancakes was overpowering.
I looked around a little when I got in there. It had a very modern look, but you could tell it wasn't used often. Meaning that I was probably in a house full of boys. At least they were clean boys.
After taking stock of the whole kitchen I walked over to where a warm plate of pancakes sat and took a few.
As I leaned up against the counter chewing my treat, I saw Jambres walk in.
His face was the definition of murderous. Blood was still dripping off his chin, even though his nose showed no sign of damage. His hair was disheveled ever-so-slightly from his fall and his eyebrows were scrunched low over his eyes.
The dangerous tilt to his mouth, and perhaps the previous knowledge that he was a homicidal maniac, should have made me weary, scared, even; but I just sat there, eating my pancake as he walked up to me. I was unconcerned by the agitation in his walk, or the purpose in his eye.
"I have a few complaints about the costumer service here. I don't know what gave you the idea that you could attack one of my guards. Let alone kill him. They're my guards, and it's my job to put them in the hospital. Not yours. Mine. Oh, and who doesn't leave out syrup for pancakes? What is this, some kind of prison?"
Jambres ignored my complaint as he grabbed me by the shirt and threw me to the ground behind him.
Still, I couldn't find it in me to be frightened. Maybe it was the fact that I'd dealt with werewolves since I was six and none of them had ever really hurt me, or maybe I just didn't really process his intent. Whatever the reason, I stood up slowly and brushed my clothes off.
My pancakes skidded across the floor and came to a stop at the far wall. For the most part they were still on the plate, and for that I was glad. It meant I was going to be able to eat them after this whole business with Mr. Butt sore.
I turned my gaze from the mostly intact plate. "Temper, temper," I said looking at Jambres with mocking in my eyes, "what would your father think of you hurting an innocent girl?"
"Innocent my ass," he said before drawing his arm back.
Telegraphing, I believe was the word. Drawing back like that was like painting a neon sign above your head that said, "guess what? I'm going to punch you!" Telegraphing wasn't the smartest thing to do in a knock-down-drag-out fight and if he was nearly as mad as he looked, this was going to be worse than a knock-down-drag-out fight. It was going to be more like a, kill or be killed kind of fight.
I stepped to the side as he swung.
"Tisk, tisk," I said looking at him with disappointment, "No wonder your father gave his throne to your brother. He obviously thought you wouldn't be able to protect the castle, considering the fact that you fight like a girl. Oh wait, I fight like a girl, and I'm winning."
The anger in his eyes flashed brighter, and I could see him battling with his wolf. Of course at this point I wasn't sure which was trying to keep me alive, or if either of them were trying to hold back. For all I knew, they were fighting over who got to rip my head off.
It looked like Jambres won his internal war, but that didn't mean he was calm by any stretch of the imagination.
He threw a series of punches.
I laughed as I dodged them, "Really mixing it up there, aren't you? I'm proud, maybe soon you will advance to being able to hit me."
Probably not the smartest thing I've said in my life.
Jambres had another miniature battle with his wolf but this time it took longer for him to reign in his inner demon.
While he was struggling with that I grabbed the toaster from behind me and ripped the cord out of the wall.
When Jambres finally had control he tried to kick low and punch high, the problem was that he wasn't use to fighting his own battles. He was telegraphing like crazy, even when he was trying to keep my attention in one place so that he could hit me with another weapon. It was so obvious.
I blocked both before hitting him over the head with the toaster.
The metal collapsed with a loud crunch.
"What a brave little toaster," I said looking at the ruined hunk of metal, "You fought valiantly and I'm glad to have known such a worthy weapon."
Jambres growled at me, a dark threatening sound that came from deep within his chest.
I threw the toaster at his head with as much force as I could.
It hit with that same sound of crunching metal and showered him with crumbs.
"You're welcome, dear toaster, for putting you out of your misery," I said looking at the machine but watching Jambres from out of the corner of my eye, "If I were you I'd want to kill myself for belonging to such an idiot too. It must have sucked to know that you were inanimate and therefore could not kill yourself."
It was obvious when Jambres lost the internal struggle with his wolf. The first thing to change were his eyes. They darkened, not just a flash, they went nearly black and staid that way. His teeth started to get sharper, and fur started to sprout before his muscles began to wither under his skin.
"Not the most impressive wolf I've ever seen..." I said with boredom after he had totally shifted.
Jambres crouched low with a growl rumbling past his barred teeth.
"Oh, I'm so scared," I said sarcastically.
Jambres jumped at me with his jaws open wide and his claws outstretched.
As I side-stepped I grabbed the blender off the counter and swung it at him. The glass shattered and left ragged scratches down Jambres's side.
"Not as good as the toaster," I said with a shrug as I looked at the base of the blender which still had jagged pieces of glass jutting out, "It'll have to do though. If I waste any of the appliances someone's going to get mad at me."
Another growl ripped its way up Jambres's throat as he jumped at me once again.
The glass ripped down his side but before I could make a snarky remark he turned around and lunged again.
I moved as fast as I could but I was a fraction of a second too slow. Pain ripped up my arm as scarlet lines appeared.
"I've had worse," I mumbled looking down at it briefly while Jambres turned around.
Jambres must have heard me because his growling started to get louder.
"What?" I asked looking at him with annoyance, "It's not my fault you're a crappy fighter."
I got the feeling that his line of thinking was somewhere along the lines of, 'does this chick ever shut her mouth?'
His growling started to get louder before he jumped at me once more.
This time I ducked to avoid the dagger tips of his teeth.
His teeth missed my head, but as he was going past his claws ripped open my back.
My vision went white as the pain filled my whole body. I knew that it was only a small scratch on my back, but it felt like I was going to pass-out from the pain.
A scream tore up my throat and I collapsed to the ground
I haven't had worse.
Well, I guess this is what I get for being cocky.
It was impossible to get up. It was impossible to do anything except wither in agony.
My initial prediction was right. As soon as he found out that I have authority issues he went after me with lethal force.
I wasn't even able to tell him that it was a good thing he wasn't king because if he were king the palace wouldn't ever get clean. Nobody likes to work for a tyrant.
If I tried to talk right now I would only end up screaming again and if I was going to die right now, I was going to go out with as much dignity as I possible could.
Jambres stalked toward me with murder in his eyes.
I thought he needed me, I mused to myself as resignation started to fill my soul. Was taking down his brother not worth putting up with my snarky remarks?
Apparently not since a moment later he lunged at me.
He was trying to drag this out, I could tell because of the way he bit my side first. It would have been easy to go for my exposed neck first, but instead he inflicted nonlethal bites along my stomach and leg.
This was not the way to get revenge for him killing Bambi.
Right as I was about to pass-out from pain and blood loss I saw a dirty blond wolf jump on Jambres. I was proud of him. Not many wolves would take on a wolf with alpha blood. It was almost suicidal.
While the dirty blond wolf was attacking Jambres, Armaros ran over to me and started to drag me out of the room.
"Stupid girl," he grumbled as he pulled me out the entryway, "You could have easily gotten yourself killed."
"Stupid boy," I mumbled back, "You could have gotten killed trying to stop me form getting killed. I'm not sure how well your brother will last either."
"My brother will be fine, no thanks to you."
"Well that's not nice, I give thanks to you," I replied before my world went completely black.
***********************************************************************************************************
A/N Sorry this is so short. I'm having a bit of trouble with writer's block. I work on the next chapter tomorrow.