Chapter 75 George

(Hope POV)

My mom had me put some ice on my bruised face while Alexander dropped off my new recruits at the hospital. He said he would be back to pick me up, but I wasn't counting on it. I could always grab one of my newly purchased cars here.

I was getting comfortable at my parent's balcony when Alexander's car came in screeching to a halt. I put down my ice pack and run down to see what he was back so quickly.

"Hope, I need you to come with me." Alexander was motioning to quickly enter the car. "Mind link with Grace to tell her she's in charge until you get back." I nod my understanding and quickly enter the back seat of the car.

Alexander closes the door and climbs into the front seat. Mark turns the car around and speeds out of the territory.

"What's going on, Alexander?" Mark was driving so fast and even if my seatbelt was on, I moved when the car swerved.

"We are on a rescue mission. We're going to rescue Grace's dad." Alexander said without taking his eyes off the road. "I told him to meet us at the winery and I brought you in case we need reinforcements. I had him take out his implant, but I doubt if he did so, if The Rogue Lord is tracking him and finds him, he's as good as dead."

"Got it. Grace's dad. Rogue Lord implant. Dead." It wasn't pleasant summarizing it, but that was the whole gist of Alexander's explanation.

Mark makes an abrupt turn unto a smaller road that heads into a huge vineyard, with rows and rows of grapes that looked ripe for the picking. I looked ahead and all I saw were grapes. There was no building in sight.

After maybe 30 minutes, I saw a fork in the road and Mark turned left. I peered through the windshield and I finally saw what looked like a factory.

As we approached the gates of the factory, I saw something moving in the vineyard.

"Alexander, there's someone there." I point in the area where the vines were the thickest. Mark stops the car and Alexander walks out. I open my door and walk out with him.

"George. We're here." Alexander calls out loudly.

"Oh thank you Moon Goddess." A big man appears from the vines, his hand on his hip, a slight limp in his walk as if he were in pain. He had tattered clothing, a disheveled appearance and a thick beard around his face.

I was about to approach him when Opal changes to aural sight and I gasp. His aura was swirling black with the tip of the clouds forming snake heads with red eyes.

"George, come on. Your daughter has been worried sick about you." Alexander said to him.

"He is not the George you know of, Alexander." I stick out my arm in front of Alexander to warn him to not come any closer to the man in front of him.

"Finally, the daughter of Adella has discovered my true being." He floats up into the air while the sky above us starts to darken and the wind starts to howl.

"The Great Shadow of Ula. We meet at last."  I wave my hand creating a protection bubble around Alexander and I including Mark who was inside the car making a phone call. I try to hold him with my magic, but he was strong and was able to repel my magic. He smirked at me, amused.

"I am very happy to have found a vessel strong enough to withstand my magic. I have nearly exterminated my pack finding one with the will to live despite my toxic essence. The others sent by The Rogue Lord who have betrayed him were also weak. This one, George, he has a very strong will to live. Now, I am reborn." He creates a ball of fire in his hand and throws it to the vineyard behind us. The vines rapidly catch fire. I wave my hand and encase the fire, smothering it. The Great Shadow laughs. "Still strong I see. I have met a worthy adversary. Daughter of Adella, once I kill you, your essence will be mine. However before I kill you, I will kill all who you hold so dearly." He shifts into a huge red wolf and starts sprinting to the direction of my territory. I shift to Opal and we give chase to the big red wolf.

"Mark, alert the others back at the territory." I hear Alexander behind me and he also shifts to Echo.

I run as fast as I could trying to get as close to him as I could to pounce. "My magic was not strong enough to hold him, Opal. Why?"

"Remember the events of today, Hope. You will find your answer. Just the same, Maria is with us. You become stronger with your Priestesses."

"We need to run faster, I can use my silver fangs." Opal tries to pick up the pace. We exit the vineyard to an open valley and I look up at the sky and start to conjure a lightning storm before he enters the forest.

"Hope, no! You will injure Grace's father." Alexander mind links with me. Echo had caught up with us while I was talking with Opal.

"Alexander is right Hope. If we strike the wolf with lightning, he will be no more." Opal agrees with Alexander.

"If I don't, he will kill everyone at the territory." I argue back.

"He will not. Have faith, Hope." Echo speeds up, taking the lead as we enter the forest. "We are near Crescent Moon. Be ready."

I look ahead and see the red wolf leaping over a stream. Echo was far ahead, closing the gap between him and the red wolf. The red wolf ahead seemed to had slow down then, I saw it at the corner of my eye. A tree was falling down towards the direction of Echo.

I use the power of the locket and the ring to keep the tree from falling so Echo can read ahead. Once Opal cleared its path, I let go of the tree. The sudden sound of the tree hitting the ground caused the red wolf to stop and look behind and that was when Echo pounced, taking the red wolf down.

They rolled on the ground until they hit a tree. They both circled each other, fangs out. Echo's red eyes glistened murderously while the red wolf barked at him, daring him to make a move.

I stopped several feet away from them. I will wait for my opportunity to sink my fangs into him. The red wolf saw me standing there doing nothing so he pounced at me. It was a wrong move because it exposed his back and Echo lunged at him, his fangs piercing the red wolf's back.

I saw my chance and bit the red wolf in the leg and he finally shifted back to human form, the silver burning his arm. He screams. "What is happening to me?" He was holding his arm in one hand as it sizzled and bubbled, smoke rising from his puncture wounds. He suddenly fell back, fainting. A cloud of black smoke exited his body and took the form of a man. The arm of the man had a yellow light sizzling from his arm just like the wound on George.

"You will not stop me, daughter of Adella." The black cloud hissed. "I will come for you soon."

The black cloud rose to the air and went into a bird sitting on a tree. The eyes of the bird changed to red and flew away from the territory. That was how it travelled. The only time I magically sent someone some place was Leia. Opal warned me to rarely use my magic to defy time and space without convening with the Moon Goddess first like I did with the Secret Chamber. I wonder how it can possess a living thing. I'll ask Maria when I see her.

Echo shifted back to Alexander. He stretched his arms to stretch out his back. I guess he was sore from hitting the tree when he tousled with The Shadow.

"George needs your help, Opal." The burn was spreading outward from where I bit him. I channeled my magic from the locket and the ring on Opal's chest and a blue light flickered across George's arm. The wound became smaller and smaller until it was no more.

Opal shifted back to me and I waved my hand to conjure some clothing for George. Alexander bent down to wake him. "George, wake up. Your safe."

Wolves from my territory started to enter the forest. One wolf ran towards us and shifted back to human form. Grace knelt down beside her father. "What happened, Alpha Hope?"

"He was possessed by the Great Shadow of Ula. Sorry Grace, I had to bite him, but I have healed him. He should be fine." I put a hand on her shoulder.

"Dad, wake up. Please, wake up." Grace nudges her father awake. He opens his eyes and smiles.

"Grace. You found me." He sits up and looks around him. He notices Alexander standing behind him. "Alpha Alexander, you got my message?" Clearly he couldn't remember what happened to him after being possessed.

Amos and Craig shift back to human form. "Master Red, welcome. We did not know Grace is your daughter. Are you here to join our pack?"

"What pack? Sorry, I can't remember much. I left a note at the shack with a new number because The Rogue Lord found out I was a spy. I don't know how he found out, but I barely made it out of the fortress alive. I've been around here trying to get in touch with Grace, but I was chased out by wolves and that is the last thing I remember."

"Well, let's get you back to my territory. Grace, call on your mother and brother." Alexander and Grace help him up.

"We will assist Master Red into the territory, Alpha Hope." Amos and Craig each take an arm of George to help him walk.

"Alpha Hope? She is your new Alpha? The daughter of Adella?" George turned to look at me. "You have adopted them into your pack?"

"Yes Father. She will adopt you as well. We can be a family once again." Grace hugs her father and I smell that familiar smell of burnt toast.