Page 35 of Princess of Hell

Jacks

Waiting for Silver and River to leave the asylum drove me crazy. I left the car and walked up and down the road, waiting to hear them running towards us.

Drae appeared next to me. “Man, did you see that?”

We both looked up at the sky. A winged creature flew above us.

“What the fuck is that?”

“Batman?”

“Be serious, Drae. Batman isn’t real.”

“Yeah. It’s a creature with wings like a bat, huge bat wings. But you’re right. Maybe it’s his sister, Batwoman.”

I punched Drae in the shoulder as I heard whatever that thing was calling out in the darkness. The cemetery was on the right side of the road. I saw shadows moving and heard a few noises that had no right being there.

“I need to investigate. Stay here.”

I returned to the car, took my jeans and shirt off, and stood naked under the moonlight. It was wonderful to feel the light of the moon washing down on me. Shifters love the moon. It’s a fact. It’s the time when we feel close to nature, to our true self, a time when we don’t have to hide.

Being a wolf shifter makes me dual. When I’m in beast shape, the human loses power and influence over me.

The sounds from the cemetery attracted me because there was something wrong. Me and the guys loved our silly zombie flicks. Now and then, we talked about the potential of facing a zombie apocalypse one day. But not today. One day far away, we would face zombies. That made me giggle. Silly, stupid.

Whatever.

I could not smell humans, but there was noise. The cemetery was old and left to fend for itself. Old gravestones stood like jagged teeth sticking out of the soft earth. The bones buried there were so old they had turned to dust decades ago.

A decayed small chapel stood in the middle of the graveyard. Weeds grew over it, pushing through broken windows, allowing wind and rain to enter and ravage it. A screeching voice that tried its best to be soft reached my ears. Shifter ears. Good stuff. I picked up words in a language I didn’t understand.

Walking carefully, jumping over the occasional broken gravestone. I found my way to the chapel. The doors leaned precariously against the wall. A creature stood inside it, talking to a small portal that appeared on one of the walls. I had a feeling it was female from the scent she emanated. I saw her from the side. She stood there. It was not a human or any type of shifter I had ever seen in my life. Her huge wings moved with her. She didn’t have hair. Her entire body was covered in scales, or at least that was how it looked. She had small breasts and strong muscular legs. She was beautiful in a way that was so alien and far. Her head was bowed in front of the small portal that she talked to. Her voice was sharp, so sharp it could cut slices off my flesh away if it wanted. It was not from this realm.

As she kneeled in front of the portal, I knew she was important to us. To Silver. I refuse to think of Silver that way but, fuck, it’s my job, a job I accepted when I decided to find her necklace and maybe even discover who her mother was.

Kill, kill. The beast inside me saw this bat-snake creature as an enemy. I felt the need to pounce on it, rip it open, and make sure she’d tell the truth to Silver. My body moved without me realizing it. I crashed through the doors, pushing them aside and producing a loud sound. Her scent was overwhelming as my fangs sank into her shoulder. It was an odd smell, like brimstone and yet somehow sweet, deep, and dark. It was a scent I had become familiar with because I smelled it all the time on Silver. Her blood tasted like bitter nuts, and it was thick like jelly.

The creature thrashed around in the most violent manner. All the curse words I could have ever imagined slithered through my mind. She screeched loud and tried to shake me off, tried to get to my body. I landed on top of her large wings. She writhed and shook under me. She was strong. I was sure that as soon as she managed to open her large bat wings, she would throw me off her. I’m an Alpha wolf and am undefeated, but she was too much. I’m not used to creatures who can fucking fly away.

Just as I gave way to these thoughts, she shook herself so hard while at the same time pushing her mighty wings open. I crashed against the wall before I could stop myself, landing on a pile of broken glass and pieces of wood from the ruined benches that once allowed people to sit and worship whomever. My ribs hurt. The impact was painful. I tasted blood in my maw.

The creature walked toward me. Her clawed hands looked ready to finish the job it had started. I would die in a chapel. I had been in many fights, many of them for life and death, but this was the first time I was sure I had met my master and would see my end.

The night with Silver rushed into my mind. I tasted her, felt that this wasn’t all, that Silver would grant me another chance. Maybe. But I wouldn’t get that chance if I died like an idiot.

I tried to stand. I didn’t have control of my back left leg. Awesome. Exactly what I didn’t need at all. With all my might, I pushed myself and jumped at the neck of the creature. Yes, my initial plan was to hold it and give Silver a chance to question it, but now the game changed. It was a game on life and death. My damn life.

I attempted to sink my teeth into the creature’s neck, but it took a quick step to the side, so fast that it took me by surprise. I tried to catch its shoulder without result. My already battered body fell on the hard stone floor with a thud. Pain exploded in my chest. Cracked ribs must have pierced my lung, and I couldn’t hold on to my shifter shape anymore. I slipped, and my body became human once again. The cold surrounded me, making it hard to breathe. The creature crouched in front of me and watched me.

“A shifter. How interesting.” She said it in a thick accent that showed her mouth wasn’t used to pronouncing words, at least not in any human language.

“I’m an Alpha. You can’t scare me,” I said in defiance, my voice broken by a bloody cough.

She laughed again.

“Oh, but you’re scared. You are so scared. Many fears haunt your soul, Jacks, am I right?”

She started to hum. The hum turned into a high-frequency pitch that grated on my nerves.

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