Page 11 of Luna & Andres

She dove at him and knelt by his side. The two dark figures got off a couple of good punches in Red's face and got a hold of his arms. They locked them behind his back so he faced me. His eyes fell on me and he nodded towards the hallway behind me.

"Get out of here! Hurry!" he ordered me.

The figures cuffed his hands and yanked. He cried out and fell to his knees. One of the figures moved around Red and rushed me. I ducked beneath a hard swing. The punch flew over my head and slammed into the wall. The person's fist disappeared into the plaster.

I sprinted into the hallway and ducked into the bathroom. The knob locked from the inside. The intruder slammed into the door, but the wood held. The jamb, however, buckled under the pressure. Another blow like that and it'd be done for.

I rushed to the open window and climbed out. The drop to the hard, bare dirt was only a few feet. I looked around the backyard. The area was surrounded by a fence that leaned far enough to defy gravity. A rusted old gate stood open opposite me. I sprinted across the lawn and looked over my shoulder.

My pursuer leapt out of the window and landed neatly on his knees and a hand. They looked up and their yellowish eyes glowed in the darkness. I barreled through the gate and paused. Left and right led down a shadowed, crowded alley. Garbage cans, old cars, and overgrown bushes gave the alley a tunneled look.

A shadow flew across the ground beside me. I spun around. My eyes widened. My pursuer flew ten feet above the ground in an arch that would have landed them on me. I threw up my arms and braced for impact.

CHAPTER 5

The impact never came. A second shadow leapt from the shadows behind a large bush and collided with my pursuer. They crashed to the ground in a frenzy of fists and kicks. I stumbled away from the fight until my back hit the dense vegetation of a blooming lilac bush.

The pair moved in a blur, but I caught sight of the newcomer's dark red coat and dark fur. The gloom of night deepened the red to black so that it appeared that two shadows fought one another. My pursuer got the worst of the battle. They swung a punch that the red coat sidestepped. The red combatant grabbed the outstretched arm and swung my pursuer over his shoulder. The person flew forty feet before they hit the ground. They bounced another couple of yards until they came to a stop just short of the paved road.

A growl caught my attention. I swung my head towards the house. The creature in the red coat stood over me. Their shadow fell across me as their bright white eyes studied my face. I froze. My heart thumped in my chest. The creature set its hands on either side of my head and leaned down so our faces nearly touched. Its nostrils took in my scent. It tilted its head to one side. I couldn't move as one of its hands brushed the back of its fingers against my quivering cheek. The creature let out a soft, purring growl.

"Leila!" a voice yelled. Red's voice.

The creature over me spun around. Its lips curled back in a snarl. The spell over me was broken with its eye contact. I shifted to one side. The branches crunched and bent around me. The creature returned its attention to me. I bolted.

I sprinted down the alley, but only made it ten feet before a shadow flew over me. The creature landed neatly in front of me. My momentum slammed me into its chest. I was buried in that thick overcoat. The creature's chest was bare but for its fur. A familiar scent invaded my nostrils. The scent of woods and meadows.

I tilted my head back to look into its face. Those soft eyes stared back at me with a mix of sadness and hope. I felt a tear slide down my cheek.

"Leila!"

I spun around. Red ran out of the gate. He looked down the left side and stiffened when his eyes caught sight of the prone figure near the mouth. The creature above me growled. Red spun around and faced us. My eyes widened and my pulse quickened.

Red's eyes were a brilliant white. The depths of his pupils were colored with yellow. He pulled his lips back in a snarl that revealed sharp, growing fangs. His clothes stretched to make room for the fur that sprouted over his body. He flexed his stiff, long fingers as they lengthened into claws. His handsome features were marred by a snout that protruded from his face, and his ears grew into long, sharp points that ended behind his head.

He was the second werewolf from the alley. The one that attacked the thing behind me.

I froze. The silver bullets. The dust on the metal box. His knowing what Mortale was. He'd played me all along to get to the creature who's shadow fell over me.

The red-coated creature growled at Red. I spun around and placed my hands on its chest.

"Don't! Please don't attack him!" I pleaded.

The werewolf hesitated. Its lips covered its long fangs and its claws relaxed. Those brilliant white eyes softened.

A roar from behind me caught my attention. I spun around in time to watch Red leap twenty feet into the air. The creature behind me shoved me to the side a second before Red fell into him. The pair rolled backwards down the alley.

My back was cushioned by the mess of lilac bushes. I looked to the fight. The creatures circled each other and struck again and again. Their punches were blurs. I righted myself and pulled out my gun. My finger hovered over the trigger. The barrel swayed from creature to creature. Both of them moved so fast. If I fired I couldn't be sure which one I'd hit.

The red-coated creature faced me. Its eyes fell on the gun. It hesitated.

Red stepped into the opportunity and swung hard. The punch connected with the side of the other werewolf's face. It was sent flying into a rusted car that sat to my left and in a neighboring backyard. Dust and car parts flew in all directions.

Red stepped up to the car. He stooped and tilted his head to get a look at the damage.

That's when I was blindsided by a shadow. It flew through the gate to Matilda's backyard and wrapped its arms around me. My own arms were pinned to my sides, but I didn't lose my hold on my gun. The black covering over their arms and the dark gloves told me this was the second attacker, the one who had been left alone with Red. The evidence of that success lay in their torn mask.

I glanced over my shoulder and saw that most of the fabric was torn away. The person was revealed to be the female of the pair who had visited the apartment earlier that evening, Officer Leno. Blood from the two long gashes poured down her face. Her eyes glowed that unnatural yellow color, though without the white that illuminated the area around the eyeball as in the other werewolves. Her sharp teeth ground together as she glared at Red.

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