Chapter Fifty-Three

*Morgans POV*

It was time for battle. Everyone had made preparations. The women, children and elderly who couldn't fight were moved into the separate rooms that Sabrina had created. There was no time left. It was now or never. Violet, Sabrina, Meg and I all nodded to each other; looking towards the men standing in front of us. Each one of us were going to take a small group and spread out after we left the stairwell. The house was massive, and anyone could be anywhere, we were prepared as best as we could be. The ominous feeling never left me. I watched as Mark, Nathaniel, James and Troy enter the stairwell, the others following closely behind. The pack members were all worried, I could sense it. They didn't know what we were headed into and neither did I for that matter. We've been attacked on our home front too many times that we can never make a plan of action.

Meg and I stayed behind with our groups for a moment. "Did you do what I had asked?" I looked towards Meg, who was nodding as she was listening for what was above us.

She reached into her pocket, grabbing a piece of paper and handing it over. "The person burning was your mom. I couldn't get the exact name of the guy who is on the inside, but apparently he holds no statue with *The Council*. This is all the information I could get, I'm sorry it's not more." She put her hand on my shoulder, still not making eye contact with me. I knew she was trying to be supportive and understanding, but this wasn't the time for us to take our attention away from anything else.

"No, you did great. I somehow knew mom wasn't dead, but now theres a new threat Sabrina and I are going to have to be careful of."

"And what's that?" Meg's attention solely focused on me, her eyes meeting mine.

"This person knows how to take out sorceresses, and we have no fucking idea who the hell it is." I chuckled darkly, looking down at the paper Meg handed me. Tears started to form in my eyes. *'Well, here's my closure. Mom, keep an eye on us and send your energy to protect us.'*

"We're here, too. We can protect you both as best we can. Don't worry, we're going to win this war." Meg smiled at me, squeezing my shoulder gently. I nodded, wiping the tears from my eyes before they could escape. "For now, lets focus on what's going on here. You will be able to mourn later."

"Alright. Everyone ready?" I looked towards the groups behind us, each one nodding towards us. We were as prepared as we were going to get. Meg and I walked through the door, slowly making our way up to the top of the staircase. A couple groups stayed ahead of us, slowly moving up as we got closer. Sabrina turned towards me, her face paled.

"What? What's wrong?" I whispered-yelled to her.

"It's a monster!" She whispered-yelled back to me.

*'A monster?'* I look in Meg's direction, her eyes narrowing slightly. We both made our way throught the groups to the front and poked our heads out the small crack in the door. A massive creature stood outside the door, it's back to us. I could hear fighting from the front of the house, Mark yelling orders to all the fighters on what to do. Meg and I gulped silently and pulled our heads back through.

"What are we going to do?" Sabrina whispered.

"Where's Violet?" I asked quietly, hoping Violet had some input on this.

"She took her group and rushed out in the direction she was supposed to. That showed up in the hallway before we could leave." Sabrina's face paled even more. "What are we going to do?" She was shaking with fear. The creature was massive in size, there was no way of sneaking past it and around it either. I started thinking as quickly as possible. We couldn't wait for it to move, and it had its back to us.

"Surpise attack." I whispered with confidence. A plan started forming into my mind quickly. "We're going to need bait though to draw its attention in a different direction though so we can make our move."

"I'll do it." Meg offered up.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely! I'm fast as it is, the damn thing wouldn't be able to fit through the spaces I can get through quickly."

"We're not trying to break the house either." I hissed jokingly at her. She rolled her eyes smiling.

"Trust me won't you?"

"Okay, okay. So heres the plan." We all huddled together, making sure to speak quietly but loud enough the rest of the warriors could here what was going to happen.

"Meg, I want two warriors to go with you. That way if it does happen to notice beforehand, or attack, you have someone with you while we prepare the advantage."

"You got it!" She pointed to two members of her group. "You two down?" They look at each other. Smiling they look back at her, nodding fiercely, they stepped forward preparing for what they needed to do. Meg turns to me and winks.

*"Oh girls, girls, girls. You think I can't hear you?"* A loud voice boomed through the halls, shaking the door as it spoke. All three of us froze, turned towards the door, watching as it flew open, revealing two red eyes looking directly at us. *"You're plan was idiotic at best."*

"Hey!" I yelled out. "I thought it was a pretty good plan, till you ruined it!" I crossed my arms childishly.

A loud laughter came from the creature, shaking the house even moreso than before. Before we could react, it reached it's arm through the door, grabbing ahold of me and pulling me into the hallway. The lights in the hallway were dim, but bright enough to see the creatures features. It was once a man, a man I recognized. I couldn't quite put my finger on his name. The creatures grip tightened just enough that pain coursed through my body. It started getting harder to breathe. Effortlessly, I did my best to release the pressure.

*"What those morons in *The Council* want with you, I have no clue. Our true directive is to capture you and the wolf and kill the others. You don't seem like a threat to me."*

"That's your first mistake." I gasped as the creature squeezed me tighter, feeling every bone in my body giving in to the pressure it was creating.

*"And what is that?"*

"Underestimating us." I raised one hand up, producing a firey sword in my hand and stabbing the creatures hand. It released me, allowing me to drop to the floor, howling as it grasped its hand in the other. Landing on the floor, I heard a crack in my ankle. *'Shit! My ankle'*

Carefully standing up straight, I held the sword in my hand. The adrenaline pumping hard through my veins, I took off towards the creature.

"ATTACK!"