Preys & Predators IV; Monster and Witches Chapter 37

 

37.

 

“Mother, I hate you.” Mary Annabelle's voice screamed out. “I hate you.”

Elizabeth looked at the young lady standing there. A part of her wanted to reach out to the daughter, but another part of her denied it. She felt a tug at her emotions, but when she looked at William Katt, she felt more anger.

“Mary Annabelle…” Elizabeth’s voice was broken.

“Elizabeth, I am not a monster. I do love you.” Victor looked at the lady who gave him a daughter. “Mary Annabelle is our daughter of love.”

“No……. I……,” Elizabeth stuttered in her words.

“Why did you bring her?” Elizabeth looked at Dolores. “Could you not just do your task?”

Dolores did not say anything.

“Mary Annabelle, come to me please.” Victor looked at his daughter. “I will … love you. I always do.”

“No, Father. You are as mean as her. I do not want …… either of you.” Mary Annabelle looked at the father. She turned to Dolores. “Please let me leave here now.”

Dolores led the young lady away. She heard the growls from the pack but chose to ignore them.

“Who else is here?” The Warlock looked at the ones who appeared there. “A portal? I am not surprised.”

“The hour draws near. We are almost there, and the victor must be established.” The warlock looked from the sky and then at the Wiccan.

“Do not be arrogant, Warlock. We are …….” Carmilla stepped towards the warlock.

‘The Sisters of the Moon. Charming ……. sisters sworn by oath to protect their coven. We battled, and I lost… once before. Today, I am more powerful. I am a warlock now.” The Warlock turned towards Lauren. “The new one? I was told that there was a new one… one that will hold the power of three.”

“Your name, young lady?” The warlock asked.

“Lauren Spielsdorf. My mother is Lissa, and I am of the coven now.” Lauren stepped up.

“And Doctor Helsing, I presume. You seem to… hop into the most precarious moments.”

“Oui, I am inexcusable for being at the wrong places at the wrong time.” The doctor smiled. “It is a part of my French ancestry in me. Maternal side.”

“And Sven. What made you venture beyond the creek? Oh, I forgot. Your young master is here. And I see ….” The Warlock was stunned. “The creature…… Is that here?”

“She is Mary.” Victor cut in. “Her name is Mary.”

“Nauseous.” The Warlock said. “Do not waste my time. Attack now!”

The shot rang out in the yard. The bullet pierced the warlock on the right hand. The shot came from the building facing the yard, from the upper second level. It was Sven who fired the shot at five hundred yards from the Beldan rifle.

“I aimed at his head but hit the hand.” Sven cursed.

The second shot rang out. It impacted the alpha wolf on the muzzle and split it open. The Alpha sat down on its haunches there.

“I knew I had not lost my skill,” Rudolf roared. “Darn it, my shoulder hurts.”

It was the unexpected that happened. The Alpha was attacked by two other wolves. It was Alistair, the wolf with the scar on the muzzle, leading the charge. It sank its fangs into the Alpha's neck, while the second wolf snapped at the rear hind of the Alpha. It was a tactical attack move by wolves. The pack stood their ground, watching the attack.

The Alpha was not giving up that easily and pulled away with its neck bleeding. It was huge compared to Alistair and the other wolf. It then charged at Alistair, using its mass weight to push the other wolf off its hinds. Both wolves landed on the ground, and the Alpha sank its fangs into Alistair’s front right limb and drew blood from there. Alistair fought back and rolled off from the Alpha and limped to the side.

The other attacking wolf took the opportunity to leap at the Alpha, but the latter was ready for the attack. It turned its body and met the leaping wolf in the flight. It used its mass weight to impact on the other wolf, and both fell to the ground. The Alpha was to give away the opportunity and bite at the wolf on the left ribs at the spine. The force of the bite tore into the flesh and bones, and with a twist of the head, the Alpha exerted a major wound on the wolf. The wolf retreated with the chest bloodied and slunk away.

Alistair was not out of the fight and had leapt at the Alpha from the side, sinking its fangs once more into the neck. That time, its bite was deep and severed the jugular veins there. The Alpha tried to break free, but Alistair held onto its bite.

Alistair did not see the attack from the left when the fourth wolf charged at it. The newly arrived wolf bit into Alistair in the rear left hind and caused Alistair to withdraw. It faced the new wolf and growled. The new wolf was not unknown to Alistair, but he was surprised by the attack. It caught the familiar female scent of the wolf.

Alistair knew the scent.

The female wolf charged at Alistair; though smaller in frame, it used the momentum of its charge to slam against Alistair. Its front paws impacted on Alistair’s head and exposed the neck where the female wolf sank its fangs into the thyroid cartilage located beneath the hyoid bone, protecting the vocal cords.

Alistair pushed free of the bite and slinked to the side while the female wolf stood guard by the Alpha, who was wounded. Alistair and the other wounded wolf then retreated to the woods.

It was deemed over. The pack of wolves howled at the female wolf, respecting her as the new alpha. The female wolf looked from the pack to the witches.

“You will die now, Warlock.” The Wiccan broke the silent moment when everyone else stood to look at the spectacle of the wolves. The Wiccan called on the spell to destroy the warlock.

“Go povikuvam ognot na Hefest. Zapali go suštestvoto pred mene.” (I call on the fire of Hephaestus. Burn the creature before me.” The Wiccan spoke of the familiar spell for the yellow fire, and the flame appeared in a narrow circle, and then the flames flared out as streaks of flame that lashed out like a fiery whip at the Warlock.

The Warlock called on the shield to protect himself, but with his wounded right hand, he could only manage a weaker shield. He was thrown back by the fire whip and landed by the Menhir. He looked to the sky and noted the eclipse of the sun was just seconds away. The sun was seen to be covered by the crescent of the moon. The shadow of the crescent formed in the Menhir circle; it was expanding.

The warlock tried to move, but it was wounded by the whip.

“Warlock, we can still ……” The dean, who was unprotected by the shield, succumbed to his wounds.

“Perish, Warlock.” The Wiccan gathered power on the shield and struck at the shield. It cracked on the more intense whip and then impacted on the Warlock.

“The eclipse is here. I will garner the pinnacle of power.” The Wiccan stepped forth, but she was stopped by Brown. He grabbed the older lady by the shoulder and tossed her to the side.

“How dare you?” The Wiccan shouted. “I will burn you alive.”

The Wiccan called on the fire spell, but Brown was prepared for it. He had learned on his own the other spells not taught to him. He called on the shield to block the spell.

“Where did you learn that?” The Wiccan, weakened by the blow, spoke.

“There are many we learned without your teaching,” Brown said. He was flanked by Marcos and Stefan. “The change of leadership is now.”

“How dare all of you?” The Wiccan hissed at them. “I was the one who……”

“Rescue us to be your slaves.” Brown smiled. “I was the mute one, but I was not mute in my thoughts.”

“Punish them, Sisters!” The Wiccan called out to Carmilla. “They are ……”

“Sisters, stay out. This is our fight. Do not get involved.” Brown turned to look at Carmilla. “We hold no battle with you.”

Carmilla hesitated with her focus on the shadow of the moon over the sun. It had reached the halfway mark.

“Carmilla, it is not our battle. We are here for the power of pinnacle.” Annabelle told the other. “We must get Lauren ready.” 

“No!” Brown shouted. “The pinnacle is mine.”

The strong man of the coven rushed forth towards the middle of the menhirs. He stood there with his arms raised high.

“Give me the power!” Brown called out.

Nothing happened, but the shadow grew wider and was three-quarters over the sun. Brown stared at the darkening sun and then screamed.

“It hurts!” Brown fell onto his knees and clutched his head with his hands. “Stop the pain!”

“You fool!” The Wiccan called out. “You are not ready for it.”

The Wiccan pushed herself up and staggered towards the shadow. She did not see the Warlock, wounded but determined to stop the Wiccan. He dragged himself up and lunged at the older lady.

“Never!’ The Warlock called out and then crashed into the older lady. They both fell outside the shadow area. Two shots rang out then. The Wiccan rolled over to the side after pushing the Warlock off her body. The latter was dead, having been shot then by two bullets into the back. She turned to look at the shadow of the sun. It was almost complete.

“It is mine.” The Wiccan called out. She felt herself lifted by her legs, but it was from the shadow. She was dragged away and turned to look to see it was Elizabeth.

“Elizabeth! Why?” The Wiccan called out.

“Your reign is over, Grandma,” Elizabeth said. “I am done.”

“You are mad! I am to cure you.” The Wiccan looked at Elizabeth. “You fool!”

It was then Brown, who was in pain at the head, rushed at Elizabeth. He was raging mad inside of him from the pain. He fell the lady and then looked at the Wiccan.

“It is time to die, old lady.” Brown crouched to grab the lady when Mary charged at him. The creation attacked the strong witch man, and they fell into the shadow circle. They wrestled on the ground there. They are matched for strength, and their blows impacted with force with their fists.

Mary had tossed Brown to the middle of the shadow, and she lunged in to grab the witch-man.

“Get off me, monster.” Brown called out when Mary followed through with a fist at her face.

“I am Mary.” The creation took a second stab at the witch-man. “You will not hurt anybody else.”

It was an intense fight. It was then the eclipse was complete and the sun totally blocked out.

Darkness appeared over the yard.

Lauren, who was holding the runes in her right hand, felt the urge then to walk towards the menhirs. She walked on and reached the edge of the dark shadow and looked at the two figures still on the ground. They seem to be unmoving there. She turned to look at the others behind her and saw they were also unmoving.

It seems that time had stopped then.

“Time is the continuous progression of existence. Life exists in concurrence with time.” Lauren was told by Carmilla. “We have events that occur apparently from the past, through the present, and into the future, irreversible by us.”

“Can we halt time?” Lauren asked.

“Not that we know of, but it may be probable if we are powerful enough to do it. I doubt even as witches that we can do it.” Carmilla smiled. “If I could, I would unravel the past to make the future better.”

“You forgot the present,” Lauren said.

“The present, for me, is the turning point to determine the past and future. If you are ever given the opportunity to do that, give it enough thought before you decide. Your past and future are the balance.”

“Come forth, child.” The voice reached out to Lauren. The young lady looked to the silhouette of a humanlike figure there floating above the ground.  There was not much to make out of the figure, for it was glowing with radiance of light. “I am the spirit of Blood Moon.”