As the howl reaches my ears, I jump up from my sitting position and encourage Tyler to do the same. My eyes are trained on the small trio that seems to be taking way too much interest in the foggy horizon. I'm caught between my want to get the heck out of here and the desire to see if there might be more to this world than the slow extinction of life.
There must be a balance, nothing good can come from the loss of mythical beings. "Tyler, are there wolves in this time?"
"No. Wolves died out a couple of hundred years ago; we don't even have many dogs. I guess they went with the lycan." Standing, I try to fix my eyes to see what they're seeing. Noses quivering, their coats bristling, and I hear a low growl rumble in Marisol's chest. "Do you think it's more lycans?"
I don't have to think about it; by the reaction of our meager 'pack,' I know exactly what high alert looks like. My most significant concern is intentions, "Or a trap," I allow.
Thinking back to our time in the woods, surrounded by the infected, I can't help but wish for the light that Penelope so easily conjured. How did anyone get anything done in this day and age? Technology replaced people's natural abilities, but as we found, technology couldn't be trusted.
Our family was built on these beings that didn't even exist in this time. "Damn it.. what I wouldn't give for a fire mage."
What I wouldn't give for loyalty, for scouts and sentries, for able bodies that were capable and trained.
Over the roar of the ocean, it's hard to hear anything. The waves are still angered by the storm, crashing and pulling at the wet sand as if it were trying to gain ground. It drowns out my senses; I can't take it anymore, the constant slashing and rumbling. I extend my hand, pushing the curling energy back into the vastness, and with an exhale, the water stills.
It expels in ripples, reaching out into the vast expanse as it calms the fierce waves. The ocean becomes quiet, soothed. The howl looms once more in the distance, ringing my ears, confirming that our guests are much closer than I anticipated.
We had to play this carefully; if they could manufacture cats, surely they could do the same with wolves? Faux lycans would give them an in into our lives in a more intimate way yet there was no way of knowing that we would accept them. Perhaps this was a test.
"We need to go investigate." I insist.
Tyler's gaze meets me with the first hint of rebellion that I'd seen from the young Solomonari. Since I met him, he followed my lead and yet here, he stood with the rigidity of reluctance. Good, question me because sometimes I don't know what's right anymore. If he was ever going to take my place, he must become strong just as I had to.
"We should go home, not towards unknown creatures." Tyler's voice is calm, decided.
The thought had crossed my mind for a moment, but these assets were too valuable to go unexplored. We ran towards danger, we were always at the heart of peril because we were the ones who answered the call. "They could be useful or they could be dangerous; it's our job to protect this world and that starts with those who can't protect themselves. Those beings include lycans. Now. You can hide here, but those girls are going to follow wherever he goes." My gaze settles on Verando, who had yet to allow his gaze to falter.
Marisol smirks in response and Helen looks like she would prefer to just leave without us. Her eyes search as if she were the captive in this situation.
"And do I need to remind you that lycans are illegal?" Tyler presses, setting his jaw.
We're interrupted by the shapes forming over the rock face, and I quickly extend my hand to Tyler to remain still. "Tell that to them. Don't get caught." Our small pack huddles closer to Verando as he stands so still, it's almost as if he's a statue. I watch his nose quiver, inhale their scent, and I dare not approach him.
History has educated me well enough on wolf politics, even on these young and, possibly, faux wolves, getting in the middle wasn't something that would benefit us. I was better off running damage control.
With a quick movement, they begin to descend down the rock face, and I ready myself, posing for an attack as they bound across the hard-packed sand. Counting them quickly in my head, I see that there are twelve and I'm almost disappointed that there aren't more. "I'll freeze them-"
"Don't," Verando tells me shortly. "They're not running at us; they're running away from something. Look at their posture."
Ears laid flat back, tails tucked, hind ends lowered, they were bounding towards us as if we were to offer sanctuary. I sense Tyler's reluctance, the same that I had, the ingrained urge to defend and run away. But my life had been placed in the gray wolf's hands so many times it was hard for me to fall into the same pattern of terror that I used to hold.
As I peer at the broad expanse of reflective eyes that grow ever closer, it's hard to think of them as anything other than the lycan army I'd grown attached to and the usefulness it presented.
A bark brings me back into the present, and I grunt as Verando shoves his shoulder into me to encourage me to climb on. What lurks behind the pack of strays are figures that move too quickly to be human. "What're those?"
"I don't know. I've never smelt this scent before." I shimmy onto him, knotting my hands in his scruff as Helen shoves her head between Tyler's legs and throws him up onto her back. "Kitten-"
"I've got your flank."
My thighs protest as we run again, accelerating through the incoming bodies, past the group of bland-colored wolves. I take them in, a quick inventory, and their colors are variously dark, dull shades. None of the vibrant foresty colors I'd grown accustomed to. As I look over my shoulder, my body protests from the impact of the fall I'd only taken an hour or two before.
An arrow whizzes past my vision, and I inhale sharply, sinking lower to his neck in surprise as another one follows after.
Arrows? Who uses arrows in today's time?
"Nic? A little cover fire would be nice."
"Oh!" I startle. "Right!" Extending the reach of my magic towards the ocean, I think of my fingers as tentacles and encourage the long snake-like strands to come from the water's edge. They slither up the beach, rapid in their movements, and as I curl my hand up to rear the long strands back, one of the beings shoots an arrow into the strands, and it freezes solid.
I blink in surprise, more hurriedly descending on the pair only to be amazed by their dexterity as they use the frozen tentacles to jump and leap, sending arrows into the bodies of water and freezing them solid.
While iced over water is not an issue, the rapid response and ability take me by surprise had my attention. I close my fist, shattering the long ice blocks and sending an array of shards toward the acrobatic assailants. One pulls the long flowing cloak that covers their back up and over them to deflect the crystals, while the other is not so lucky.
I hear a man's cry as he falls to the ground, somewhere he's been hit though I can't quite see where in the dark. "I'm getting down."
In a quick motion, I vault off the running wolf and land carefully on my feet as he bounds toward the pair.
Marisol blows past me, and I see Helen struggling with Tyler's reluctance in the distance. I roll my eyes in frustration at what I perceive as cowardice, and yet, I know it's coming from a place of wanting to keep the fragile female safe.
Calling more water from the ocean, I decided to go into a more tactical assault and use my limbs to fire smaller, more pointed attacks of dense bursts, much like a cannon from my fists and feet. It feels good to use, good to feel strong, and to fight again. I can't help but grin as even injured, the pair is formidable.
They leap, roll and spin, freezing some blocks and narrowly avoiding others, dodging lycan teeth and leaping off the furry bodies of the wolves. Another instance of smaller adversaries taking advantage of the lack of flexibility in the gray wolf and the lack of burst speed in the small brown wolf.
"Pick one!" I demand, both creatures turn on the more obviously male of the two. "Now!" I send multiple blasts of water, chasing him as he flips through the sky to guide him right into the ambush.
Marisol leaps, narrowly missing him as Verando snags him on the downward. He slams the man into the ground, holding him down with his paw with a thunderous snarl that makes Marisol slow her approach.
"Stop!" The other yells. A female. "Please. Call off your dog!!"
"He's not my dog!" I demand back; quickly, I form the snake-like tentacle and deliver a sharp kick to snap it like a whip and strike her. She drops to her knees but doesn't cry out. "Who are you?" I demand.
"It doesn't matter. Just let my brother go."
"The hell it doesn't. You were just chasing a horde of lycans, and there are nearly twenty people missing; now I'm going to ask you again. Who are you?" I lose my patience, motioning with my chin to Marisol, who takes slow steps towards the woman. She throws up her hands, quickly standing and pulling out her bow though she doesn't draw it. Narrowing my eyes, I try to see her quiver in the darkness, but to no avail. "How are you freezing the water?"
The hooded head turns to watch me, and in the darkness, I see no eye reflection. Are these people human? Surely not. Her clothes are heavy, almost too heavy for the climate.
"A magician never reveals her secrets." With a quick spin, she throws a ball to the ground that explodes in heavy smoke. I cough and sputter, reaching out my hand to call the wind to me, and I swirl my hands desperately to rid the smoke, only to reveal the pair are gone, and the two lycans are before me as humans, naked and dazed on their hands and knees.
What they leave behind is not even a footprint, gone from sight on the vast beach that seems as if it would have clearly marked their escape. Rushing over to Verando, I hear the pitter-patter of feet as Tyler jogs over to us with Helen.
"What the hell was that?" Marisol groans, rubbing her temple.
"I don't know. It was as if it shut the wolf down. I couldn't stop the change." Verando responds through his teeth, wincing as he slides into a sitting position.
So the smoke from the ball must have had some element in it? I can only figure that these people had some sort of experience with lycans to know that they had a human form, which meant they were hunting the group. Dragging my fingers over the silvery sand, there isn't even a hint of residue to steal a sample.
"Did he smell human?"
"A bit?" Verando sighs, scrubbing his hand through his hair. "Honestly, he didn't smell of anything. But they were up to no good if they had that gas."
"And now they know what your human forms look like." Tyler points out with a frown.
Verando doesn't seem too interested in this knowledge. Where one might brag on one's ability to perceive failure, it is not in Tyler's nature. Our inability to capture these two beings is his own, and I can see on his face that it bothers him, not for our loss, but for the unknown of the two individuals that now pose a potential threat to his family, to Helen.
"That was some real fancy footwork. Never seen anythin' like it."
"They were quite skilled. And fast." Marisol manages, blinking away the start of a migraine.
"And strong but not unmanageable, not like a strigoi," Verando adds.
"Well, they wielded ice? Maybe they were mages?" I add, almost to hopefully, which brings an array of looks.
"Regardless, we need to track them down." Verando stands, stretching to regain some sense of self after such a harsh change.
"More protection detail?" Marisol groans. "Doe, I have a life. I'm not a part of this." I hedge at her words; this is true. She has a whole community she cares for, a group of people who depend on her. She'd been doing double time, working with us and with them, still spending time with them, still helping them.
I know Verando said he helped as often as he could, but the reality was, this wasn't anywhere close to over, and this only served as another distraction. "Doe... this isn't our problem."
And I know she is trending towards Tyler's side of the argument.
He sighs, and I can't help but share the weight he holds on his shoulders. It's too much for just us two, and yet, our team was useless for what we needed them for. We needed insiders; we needed people and eyes and bodies.
We are divided once more, us and them. Those with more significant problems want to leave the smaller man to defend themselves while we tackle the task of saving the planet. Yet, our success was built on the back of a meager army compared to the forces we faced.
We needed numbers if we were going to win this; it was time to stop treating this like it wasn't a war.
"Mr. Mercer." One of the wolves calls as he begins his approach.
Verando stiffens, frowning. "Senator Campbell."