Ch. 134: First Wave

CHAPTER 134:
Jake~
The tension has been building for hours. The sun moved slowly through the sky. And while I was thankful for all the time to prepare, it was almost too much time. I’m an overthinker as it is. All this build up didn’t help that.
I heard movement coming up the stairs and picked up her scent right before she spoke.
“Jake. Come here,” Rachel said softly.
I walked slowly and we met in the middle. I’d come into my office again to freak out a bit without any witnesses. She wrapped her arms around me and I held her tight.
“Breathe,” she said into my chest.
I did. Long slow breaths, taking in her calming scent and her touch. It lowered the pressure that had been building inside me, like letting a little air out of an overinflated tire. I felt my shoulders come down, my heart rate lowered, Aamon seemed to breathe out too.
“It’s going to be okay,” she said, muffled into my shirt. “Well, it’s not going to be easy. And we’re probably going to lose some people. But I know we’re going to save this pack, we’re going to stop them before they get any stronger. We’re going to save the world.”
Her words shook me. Aamon felt a bit strange about it, but I didn’t want to disturb the moment.
She stiffened in my arms for a moment before pulling away.
“It’s time,” she said, her voice hoarse.
A split second later Nick linked me, Ally says they’re coming. It’s time.
I looked at Rachel for a minute and I held both of her hands in mine, squeezing them. Trying to silently tell her everything I couldn’t say aloud. She squeezed back and we looked at each other for a breath.
“We can do this. Together,” she said, eyes shining with determination.

By the time we stepped outside everyone was in position. I had team leaders assigned to different areas, with our guest warriors dispersed in each group. I shifted fully into hellhound form at once, lowering myself for Rachel and she got on my back. My flames cradled her into position and we walked to the front line with my strongest warriors.
Our kids and elderly were moved hours ago and were protected by a small team as they made their way down south to Dark Mountains. We were ready and all able.
I checked in once more with the team leaders and we prepared ourselves. Wolves lined the area, with Ally far east with Nick, and Rachel and I on the west side, our weakest point. The Fae boy was to the south.
Everything was silent. We all held a collective breath. The sun was almost gone. My ears reached for any indication of movement. Nothing but breathing. Even the birds had gone. Wind moved through the trees. My body was tense, stuck in a ready fighting stance.
And then they appeared in a flash of light.
Fire, light and wind beat against us. They hit the field a few feet ahead and hammered against the shield Ally and Rachel had put up. More chaos hit it, and I could see the invisible force wavering beneath it. Vampires were showing up, barely visible in the storm outside the field. Wolves on our side growled, getting ready for when the shield would fail.
A howl let loose from somewhere far away, a team leader in the east saying the shield was failing. We all howled in response, as our battle cry, echoing across our packlands, as pockets in the shield broke down.
In front of me, several hooded figures pushed through and I felt Rachel amplifying me as we charged, sending a burning wall of hellfire ahead.
I pull on all their fire and before they know it their own attempts at throwing flames just means fire shoots right back at them. Aamon adores the screaming. Me - it’s not so clear cut. I know we need to take these guys out, but I wouldn’t say I love causing pain.
You enjoy the power too, Aamon growls.
I ignore him. This isn’t the time for arguments.
Rachel sends me amplification and my flames reach the scraps of the barrier, the walls of fire fill in the gaps and the wolves to our left and right take down those who came through. I could stand here forever but I know there are other sections that need our help, so I weaken the fire and waver a bit, making it look like I am running out of stamina. The trick works. More come through and once a good chunk is in, I put it back up. My wolves attack those that are in and so do I.
The wolves all around move faster, strike harder, and I know that’s Rachel too.
Not a bad strategy, Aamon says, impressed.
I know, I send back, annoyed.

Kyle~
All the wolves around me howled in unison. It’s eerie, foreboding, and even a little unsettling. I can’t stop the shiver that goes down my spine. But I knew that it was meant for the crazed witches and vampires on the other side of that wall. I took a deep breath in to steady myself and sent a silent prayer to my grandmother for strength. To fight these lunatics that kidnapped us, who took her from me. Who I needed to stop before they took anyone else’s loved ones.
The first figure comes through the hole in our field and a wolf to my right charges straight for it. More figures rush in, there’s lightning crackling in the air and a rush of wolves charge around me. My eyes land on a witch who is taking down a wolf and I push sleep into her. She stumbles and another wolf leaps over my head to tackle her to the ground all the way.
There’s flesh tearing and screaming, lightning and wind, all around. I can hardly see. There’s seemingly more than the last time. I’m running, ducking, and sending sleep in all directions. There’s so much going on and so many bad guys all I can do is send a tiny bit of sleep to just about everyone fighting our guys. Sending too much to one will just drain me. So I focus on doing a little damage all over, giving our guys any advantage I can.
I’m hit by something and go flying. My hands reach out and my fingers graze through grass and dirt to slow my sliding across the field. I hit something hard and I wince from the impact.
“Goddess, hll,” I hiss out.
I try to sit up and my vision is blurry at first but as I come to I see a vampire rushing straight at me.
My body moves faster than I can think and my hand is out in a millisecond, I’m sending sleep but it’s like my head can’t focus, he’s in two places at once. My eyes, they won’t focus, and I can’t pinpoint where I’m directing sleep. I must be mostly missing because he’s still coming for me. He swerves around a wolf fighting off another vampire, and rushes to me.
I blink with focus, trying to get my eyes back to normal. I’m sending a stream of sleep out in a messy pattern, waving it ahead of me.
This can’t be it. I survived kidnapping and kicked such glorious aas in our last battle. How did I end up here? On the ground? Covered in mud and Goddess knows what else. How could it end with me down?
He’ll be on me in a few seconds and I push against the thing I hit with my other hand, trying to use it to help me stand. I squint, clearing my vision just a tad, knowing this is my last chance.
I hear another howl ring out as I throw one last wave of sleep out at him. It hits him hard and he stumbles hard. He’s tripped but is flying through the air right at me. I wince and put up my arm to block the impact.
It doesn’t come. I lower my arm and see a glorious red wolf ripping the vampire apart. His head goes flying off and I exhale in a sob at how close I came to death.
Some unintelligible sound comes out of my mouth and I feel like a blubbery baby. The red wolf looks over at me and tilts its head.
It’s surreal. There’s this quiet moment of understanding between us. And it lowers its head slightly, coming closer. There’s all this loud death and chaos around, but I am mesmerized by this moment. It lowers its head to mine and for a second we press our foreheads together. I breathe in and somehow through the blood and sweat soaked all around, I smell… jasmine. How odd.
Someone cries out and I break out of my trance. The wolf and I back up and see a witch burning lightning into a wolf who is crying out, whimpering. The world comes back into focus and I push sleep at the witch. The red wolf jumps in a second later and takes her down.
My eyes are refocused and though I feel something warm dripping down the back of my shirt I push on. Using the huge boulder behind me I push up and continue to defend our wolves from vamps and witches. The red wolf comes into vision over and over as it takes out everything I send stumbling. We find a rhythm and before I know it we’re seeing far fewer bad guys come through the hole.
We might just be able to pull this off.