I mentally prepared myself to shift, clothes be damned. Obviously, I didn't have time to strip. My jeans and top and favorite leather jacket would rip, but the clock was on now and the first to turn wolf had an advantage in an animal form fight.
Except that Anne had a different idea.
As my vision began to change from human to that of a wolf, the other woman reached behind her and under her long-sleeved t-shirt, pulled out a large kitchen knife and lunged at me.
I barely had time to bend backwards - the blade slicing the air where my throat had been only seconds ago - when she raised the knife again, this time to plunge it into my chest. I blocked her weapon-wielding arm with mine, pushing it away and landed two consecutive punches to her face. She staggered back, momentarily dazed, and I focused on her right hand, which was still gripping the knife.
Slamming my body to hers and tucking my head in the crook of her neck so she couldn't headbutt me, I thrust forward until her back hit the wall next to the window, grabbed her by the right wrist and bashed it over and over again against the wall until Anne finally dropped the knife and it slid under what was left of a wooden corner table.
I did not have time to rejoice in my small victory.
She pushed at me, the back of my knees hitting the corner of the bed and bending. I landed on all fours on the floor and lifted my head in time to see her darting towards her weapon.
Hell no!
Heart thumping in my head, I jumped up, stumbling, but the loss of balance worked to my advantage: I found myself on the floor again, but I had taken Anne down with me. We struggled for dominance, clinging to each other and rolling on the floor among pieces of broken furniture, kicking and punching. My knuckles stung from hitting her and my ribs throbbed where she'd landed a blow to them. The iron taste of blood was invading my mouth because of my split lip and warm drops of the same liquid - this time coming from a gash on Anne's left cheekbone and nose - fell over my forehead when she managed to get me on my back and loom over me, one arm trying to restrain me while the other lifted for a punch.
I was quicker.
I shot forward and headbutted her, pain exploding in my forehead just as she howled in pain. Pushing up and to the side, I managed to reverse our positions. Anne had landed on her left arm, trapping it with her own body, but her right one was free and she thrust it towards my throat. Just like when she'd been holding the knife, I pushed the arm away and grabbed the wrist, slamming it against the floor. She cried out again, a glass shard of something she'd destroyed before piercing her palm in the middle, the piece sticking from both ends of her hand.
"You bitch!" She shouted, glaring up at me, hatred filling her dark eyes, both of us struggling to let the air we needed into our lungs. She trashed underneath me and I felt as if I'd suddenly found myself on top of a wild horse, bucking to throw me off itself.
A noise came from the front of the house, a slight electric current appeared in the air, and I turned instinctively towards the still closed door of the bedroom.
Big mistake.
I screamed, my upper arm aching.
Anne had stabbed me.
She had stabbed me with the same shard that was still piercing out of her hand, the glass piece linking us, my blood mixing together with that of the vile woman underneath me.
The door to the hallway slammed open and this time both of us turned, our eyes landing on a bulky figure in a long brown coat.
A frantic-looking Callum was standing in the doorframe, chest heaving, eyes taking in the scene before him as he drew his conclusions of what was going on. He reached towards his belt where his gun usually was, realized the weapon wasn't there and cussed just as Anne imitated what I'd done to her minutes ago and headbutted me.
The blow landed on my mouth, my upper and lower teeth clashing forcefully, and as she pushed me away from her, I wondered if I wouldn't spit some of my pearly whites out.
Anne clambered to her feet, swaying, and found her way to the corner furthest from me and Callum, next to the remains of the small wooden table.
"Keri!" Callum was already beside me, helping me get up.
"Fuck," Anne muttered, appraising us as she no doubt tried to plan her next step. It was two on one now and I had already showed her that I wasn't an easy opponent. Pain throbbed in my torso and face, I was bleeding and it would be a while before I caught my breath, but she didn't look any better. There were trails of red liquid coming from both her nose and cheek - I couldn't even remember when in all the commotion I managed to hurt the latter - but her right hand was the worst, the glass shard she'd pulled out and discarded leaving a heavily bleeding hole on her.
"You okay?" Callum asked as his eyes tried to stay on my foe, but seemed to dart on their own accord towards me to catalogue my wounds.
"Yeah." I swiped my mouth, but my hand was so bloody, the movement probably added even more red to my face.
"Damn." Anne leaned on the wall behind her, then slid down to the floor. "Two against one. I guess I'm..."
"Don't even think about it!" I cut her off and stepped towards her, my body protesting with a jab of pain in my ankle. I ignored it, not bothering to try and recall when I'd gotten that part injured.
"Think about what?" Anne's question sounded innocent enough, but I could see the smile in her eyes.
"Going for the knife that's under the remains of the corner table. It's over. Stop fighting."
Callum grunted and moved past me and towards her.
"Wait." I grabbed him by the sleeve of his coat and that was all Anne needed. In a flash, she'd reached under what was left of the corner table, pulled the kitchen knife out and launched herself at us with a feral scream.
"Keri, watch out!" Callum shouted, pushing me away, and as I staggered back, I watched the blade slash his forearm.
Time stopped, my whole world narrowed to the red liquid quickly coloring his once brown coat sleeve red. My heart stopped, then drummed like crazy. Small tremors shook my body, fine hairs stood up and began to elongate along with my teeth and nails. I heard myself growl and I felt my clothes ripping, some parts falling to the floor, others clinging to my now wolf body. I jumped and landed on top of Anne, my jaws clamping down on her right wrist. She howled and trashed about, her eyes transforming to those of an animal.
But then she hit me with a human arm, to the side of my face, barely missing my eye. She'd dropped the knife, but she was wild and no longer needed it. Physical pain seemed to mean nothing to her and she wrapped an arm around me, pushing me to the side, trying to reverse our positions.
"Get off her!" Callum boomed from behind us and suddenly I began to choke, the smell of burnt hair filling the air, attacking my sensitive nose. I pushed away from Anne and the flames that had taken over the back of her shirt. She shrieked and landed with her back on the floor, rolling to extinguish them, but they wouldn't go away.
Callum had taken the bed covering and now lowered himself down, trying to put the fire out. Before I knew it, I was naked and human, and attempting to achieve the same with a blood-covered rug. Anne was trashing about, her agonized screams making my ears hurt.
I wanted to make it stop.
She'd hurt so many people, but I didn't want her dead. I wanted her prosecuted and rotting in a tiny cell.
But not dead.
I had to make this stop.
After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably only a few short moments, we managed to put Anne out.
Her breathing was labored, air wheezing in and out of her body, the flesh beneath the soot badly burnt. Her hair was gone. She had no eyebrows or eyelashes over her reddened eyes.
"What happened..." I began, the inside of my throat feeling scratchy, but Callum turned me around towards him and cupped my face between his hands.
"Are you alright?" He croaked out, his eyes boring into mine. "Oh, God, Keri, are you..."
He pulled away, my body instinctively following his with me taking a step towards him.
"Here." He'd taken off his coat and wrapped it around my naked skin. "Put it on, come on."
I pushed my hands through the sleeves, a hint of Callum's natural scent invading my nose, clearing some of the burnt smell that I was sure would cling to me even after we got out of this wretched house.
A strange, choking noise came from Anne and we both turned towards her. It took me a moment to realize it, but she was laughing.
"If I knew..." Her eyelids began to droop. "I would've killed him... If I only found out sooner..." Her voice was barely audible now. "He's your mate."
I darted towards her, kneeling down, but it was too late. She'd lost consciousness, but she'd managed a final blow by revealing my secret. I reached for her neck and sighed in relief when under the marred skin, I felt a pulse.
A weak one, but a pulse.
"Call..." I turned to Callum, but he was already on the phone, reciting our address. I tuned out his narration of what had happened - the parts that he knew anyway - and turned my attention back on Anne, covering her torso with the rug I'd use to put out the flames. That was where the damage was: her torso, arms and head. Watching her chest heave, I sat down and leaned on the wall, praying the ambulance would get here on time.
It surprised me that I didn't want her dead.
That I wanted her alive, and confided, and scarred, and knowing that even though she'd hurt many, in the end she'd failed.
She hadn't succeeded to hurt the Bullets, except for me, but there was no permanent damage on my body. Maybe there will be a few scars, but I could live with that.
As for Callum: he had to find out some day. This was far from ideal, but now he knew and that was that. Maybe I'd get hurt by him too, in another way, but...
Sighing, I closed my eyes and felt Callum sit beside me. To my surprise, he tugged my towards him in a sideways embrace. I leaned my head on his shoulder and without opening my eyes, I murmured:
"I'm tired."
"I know." He placed his chin on top of my head. "I know, Keri. Just... It's over now. You can relax."
"I think I'm a horrible person."
He pulled slightly away and when I opened my eyes and looked at him, he was staring at me with a confused frown.
"I want her alive." I nodded towards the still passed out Anne. "Not as some grand, magnanimous gesture of forgiveness or because I feel sorry for what she'd been through, for what made her into a killer, but because I want her to suffer. To know that in the end, she was caught, and she'd never see the light of day again. Horrible, aren't I?"
"If you are, then so am I." A shadow set over his features as he lowered his head, but a moment later, he looked back at me.
"And I'm not talking just about Anne, Keri. Something like this has happened before." He swallowed loudly as if something was stuck in his throat. Curiosity was burning me, but I waited for him to regain composure.
"When I was... When I was a child, I saw some boys bullying Miriam and I tried to stop them, but... I couldn't."
My hand automatically covered his and Callum laced our fingers together. I wasn't sure he was aware he was doing this, but it felt good and I was afraid that if I moved, I'd startled him and he'd let me go. So I stood quiet as he told me about his sister's disease, how it made her look different, and how other kids would make fun of her. How on that day, he'd been too weak to fight off the boys laughing and insulting her, how he'd gotten angry, and how a fire had erupted, injuring one of those boys. How it had been ruled out as an accident caused by the gas lights in the barn.
"So... So you somehow did this?" My gaze shifted briefly to Anne, then back to him.
He nodded.
"I guess." Another loud gulp followed. "When I saw her attacking you, I... I got so angry. Like when I'd been a child. I wanted her hurt and you safe, and I felt warm all over, and then... She was on fire."
I looked at Anne again and pushed my tired brain to recollect what had happened. The flames had been... strange. They'd clung to her. Even as she'd trashed around, nothing but her and her clothes had caught on fire. It was as if the blaze had avoided the furniture, me and Callum.
I heard a lighter flick and turned back to him.
He was lighting up a cigarette, his hands shaky. He put the cig in his mouth and took a deep drag before he exhaled a large cloud of smoke.
"Is..." He took another deep drag before he managed to finish his question. "Is what she said true? Did you recognize me?"
All I could do was nod and wrap his coat tighter around me.
"When..." He shook his head and snorted.
"Right away, I'd imagine," he muttered.
"Right away?" My voice was low.
"I was wondering when you recognized me, but you were well over sixteen when we first met, so it must've been right away." He brought the cigarette back to his lips.
"Callum, I... I owe you an apology. I should've told you, but..." I closed my mouth. What was I supposed to say?
All the reasons I'd given myself through the years to stay away from him seemed insignificant now.
"I was going to tell you. Not at first, but lately we've gotten closer, and I though... I thought that maybe..."
"I quit." He said and extinguished his smoke.
"W-what?" I stammered, confused. After everything that had happened today, I was exhausted both physically and mentally, and my brain wasn't able to decipher his words.
"I'm quitting these." He nodded to the now extinguished cigarette. "And I'm drinking less. Can't do anything about the age or the grumpiness though."
"What are you talking about?"
"Keri, I know I'm not relationship material. But as you said, we've gotten to know each other better lately, and I've developed some feelings for you."
For a second time today, my heart skipped a few beats. I was wondering if this was all a cruel hallucination; perhaps I'd lost more blood then I'd thought. If it wasn't for the pain in my ankle, and face, and ribs, and pretty much all over my body, I'd think that I was dreaming.
"I can guess why you didn't tell me," Callum went on. "I know I'm no good for you right now, but I can do better. I will do better and... and be good for you, and..."
I leaned forward and kissed him softly on the lips. He replied instantly, and just as gently, mindful of my injuries.
"You'll make a wonderful mate." I whispered against his lips once we broke the kiss. "I was an idiot not to realize that sooner."
About half a dozen sets of footsteps thundered into the hallway. I pulled away, but stayed seated on the floor next to Callum, anticipating a group of Sentinels. My expectations proved correct.
Adrian Monroe, Sasha Mavis, Clifford Clarence, Johnathan Mitchell and two female Sentinels I had not met before rushed into the room, guns and blades at the ready.
"Wow." Sasha whistled, while they all took in the blood, wreckage, and passed out Anne. "You got her good."
"It was mostly Keri," Callum began to explain as Adrian and one of the unknown women went to check on Anne. The other woman kneeled beside us. "I came later and... What are you doing with that?" My mate asked the blonde who was next to us and had taken out a syringe.
"I'm going to draw some blood from you. If you've just used a sleeping Gift as we suspect, then something might show up in this sample. A chemical misbalance that would go unnoticed if we took blood after time has passed..."
"Stop poking me, woman! Didn't you get enough blood from me at the hospital?"
"As I just explained..." The blonde began, exasperated, and I was sure she'd had the displeasure of dealing with Callum while he'd been in the medical facility. The Detective cut her off:
"Take care of Keri first!"
"I'll look at her wounds, as soon as I draw some blood from you. Now shut up and give me your arm, Detective."
Callum opened his mouth to protest, so I took his arm and held it to the nurse, doctor, or whatever this blond chick was.
"Stay still for a moment," I told my mate while the female Sentinel muttered a thank you.
More hurried footsteps approached and I lifted my head in time to see my brother, cousin, and best friend run into the crowded bedroom.
"Keri!" Anthony looked frantic. The brunette whose name I didn't know frowned up at them.
"Please wait outside by the ambulances," she said.
"Why are you taking care of that woman? Help my sister!"
"Sir, please..." She began again, her tone remarkably even in the face of a large and obviously agitated shifter.
"We'll wait outside." Rhys assured her, managing to keep enough of his cool to know that arguing with the Sentinels wouldn't get us anywhere. I smiled weakly at him. I was too tired to order my brother to stand down and for once, I wasn't sure he'd listen. Rhys was already gently tugging him away, but Anthony's gaze was on me and he wasn't budging.
"Come on, cous." Kelly grabbed my brother by the other arm and pulled with more force. It wasn't until I nodded that Anthony finally moved, albeit reluctantly.
"Did you call them?" I asked Callum.
"Of course. They are your pack."
"I didn't even notice you doing that," I admitted leaning my head on his shoulder once more.
The blonde put the sample of Callum's blood in a bag. By now, another Sentinel team had entered. They'd put the still unconscious Anne on a stretcher and were pushing her out of the room.
"You two should get up." The blonde said. "My colleagues will take that woman in one of the ambulances, I'll come with you in the other. You can give a formal report once we take care of your wounds. As for the new tests we are running on you..." The last sentence was said to Callum who cut her off again, this time with a groan. The blond went on as if he hadn't.
"... We'll start on them right away. If you have a sleeping Gift, we must know. Fire can be quite destructive, as I'm sure you've witnessed, so we'll have to find away to awaken the Gift and train you on how to use it."
"Yeah, yeah." Callum got up, pulling me with him, his hand entwined with mine.
"This is serious, Detective."
"I know, Doc. But I'm tired and my mate is injured, so the lecture will have to wait."
"Mate?" The woman's gaze turned calculative, as if this new information would somehow affect her examination.
"Mate?" Sasha repeated excitedly, checking us out as if to figure if we were a suitable couple. Given her grin, she must've concluded we were.
Mate.
The word echoed in my head, warming me from the inside.
Callum called me his mate.
We walked out of the bedroom together, passing by Clifford and his partner Johnathan. Adrian was outside and seemed to be reiterating to the three members of my pack whatever Callum had told the Sentinels over the phone. As soon as they saw us, Anthony, Rhys and Kelly darted towards us. After reassuring them that I was relatively alright and briefly filling them, Callum and the Sentinels in on who Anne was, I climbed at the back of an ambulance along with Callum.
"We'll follow you in the car," Rhys told me and led the other two Bullets to my brother's vehicle.
The doors of the ambulance closed and off we were, the blonde cleaning up the cut on Callum's forearm and the brunette working on me.
I smiled over her head to where Callum was seated and he returned the gesture. A moment later, he blushed and cleared his throat.
"Umm, Keri? I was wondering if you'd like to accompany me to my niece's wedding next month?"
His voice was a bit shaky and I chuckled at how uncharacteristically shy he was. So shy, so cute and so... Well: mine.
"I'd love to."
I wouldn't exchange his answering grin for all the money in the world.
This just might be the longest S&R chapter I've ever written!
I thought about writing Keri and Callum going to his niece's wedding for Ch. 41, but I don't think it's a good idea to introduce you to about a dozen new characters in the Epilogue; maybe have it as a one-shot in Dogs, Bats & Monkeys Series: EXTRAS?
Anyway, instead of that, the Epilogue will feature characters you already know and love: basically, all the main cast from the series minus Alec's and Kennedy's love interests. What will they all be doing together?
Mwahahaha! Tune in this Sunday to find out. I'd love to read your guesses though, so if you have any, leave them in the comments.
But enough about the next chapter: what did you think of this one?
This is my first time writing a fighting scene like this so I'd love to read what you thought about it.
Also, how do you think Anne will feel when she wakes up and realizes she's the reason Callum finally knows he's Keri's mate and that the two are together?
Please give Ch. 40 a VOTE if you enjoyed it and have a great time wattpadding!