Page 26 of Stolen Oath
“Aha. Or you would’ve totally listened to the wolf’s orders.” She told me evenly, her faked innocence pushing me to stiffen up and act defensively.
“What would you have me do?” Pausing for a moment I stretched as far as I could so I can look down on the ground. All of them were there, following mutely like zombies. Now that I compared them to the brain eating undead I couldn’t stop thinking about them like that. “I have this feeling that whatever spell was used it has a timer or a trigger, Char. We are seriously running out of time.”
A strong wind whipped across the trees at the back of the mansion and it whistled through the leaves and branches with an eerie high-pitched sound. We had to crouch and hold into the rooftiles so it doesn’t fling us off the roof like kites. The hyenas became animated right after and shrieked from bellow, a few of them laughing in an unhinged and unsettling way. Ghostly hands ran their fingers up and down my spine and gooseflesh pebbled my skin.
I shivered.
“I think you are right”. Char whispered from behind me, fear making her voice shake.
“Okay, here is my plan”. Waddling sideways I turned to face her. “I was going to use the trees to lead them as deep into the forest as I could before pelting them with every spell I know and hoping they’d die. Or pass out at worst case. But now that you are with me I’m thinking we could slide down a trunk, bolt for the parked cars, and use one of the vehicles to make an escape.”
“I came prepared, Allie.” She dipped her hand in the tote without looking and pulled it out with three glass jars filled with oily liquid in various colors; all of them clear indicators that whatever was inside was poisonous.
I shrank back which made Char grin like a fiend. “We can still use the trees to take them deeper into the woods as you wanted and then all bets are off. I’ll melt the skin off their bones.”
“Sometimes you scare me.” I admitted but smiled to soften the harsh comment. “I am very grateful you are on my side though.”
“I have one here somewhere that can knock out the wolf too if he starts giving you hard time. It’ll give him a killer headache for a few days too.”
“I thought you two were as thick as thieves now.” Spinning around I started crawling on all fours toward the closest branches which were brushing the roof with their wide leaves. Some type of moss was growing around the foliage, too and it draped like grapes in irregular intervals. For just a moment I considered it for maybe using it as a weapon but I changed my mind. As gruesome as it sounded, Char’s idea of melting their skins was the safer bet for us.
“I still don’t understand why witches would want to kill me.” I voiced the one thing that truly bothered me since that morning when the lady came to the store and started asking about love candles. “Dimitri’s father, I can understand and even justify to some point. Even Dimitri himself since he is a member of the MPO, if he decided one day that he wants to kill me. But a coven from Louisiana? What in the stars have I done to them?”
Char listened quietly and at that point we reached the thick branches which were reaching over the roof for us like crooked giant hands. The sky had cleared out and the moon hung heavy like a juicy plum suspended in the air. An electric blue ring pulsed around the diameter giving it an otherworldly appearance like some ominous omen dangling above our heads.
Like we needed some more bad signs.
“It doesn’t make sense to me either, which is why I initially thought we should stay focused on Dimitri’s father. But now looking at the situation, I’m wondering if his so called cold is somehow connected to the zombified version as you call it of vamps and shifters we are dealing with here.”
“I overheard Dimitri and Angela talking.” I admitted quietly as if afraid he might hear me voice it out loud. “He admitted to her that he believes we are, …, well that I am somehow connected to some old prophecy the wolves have. Because why not, right? Why not add an ancient prophecy to all this shit-show?”
“That does sound like bad news.” The sorceress sounded thoughtful, her tone almost absentminded. “Did they say what kind of prophecy?”
“No, but Angela was really worked up about it.” Standing up I took hold of the branch and pulled myself up on it, making sure my body was still somewhat visible so the creeps bellow could see me. “I think that same prophecy has everything to do with their soon to be wedding, too. I wish I could say I heard more about it, but I didn’t.”
We were hiding more from the victims who were cowering inside the house than the assailants who so far were appearing docile. Char followed behind me without complaint, more at home dangling from branches than the rope attached to the house.
“And before you accuse me of doing something so that Dimitri can see through my magic I assure you he can’t. But he can somehow sense me when I’m around him even if I’m invisible.” I didn’t need to tell her how upset that made me. I was livid I couldn’t sneak up on him. “I think he can smell me.” That last bit was more a reminder for myself than her.
“That’s inconvenient.” My friend muttered so I stopped moving to look back at her. “What? I can be reasonable.”
“Could’ve fooled me.” I quipped and we both chuckled.
“Something is going on down there.” The urgency in her tone had me craning my neck as far as I could go to see the ground.
We just entered the tree line lining the property where the trees were starting to thicken and I was grateful for it. As Char mentioned that something was off, all hell broke loose. The hyenas were shaking their heads harshly enough to be unable to walk so they started dropping on their sides and screeching so loud the vamps covered their ears with both hands. At first, I truly believed that it was all the shrieking that was forcing the bloodsuckers to drop on their knees since they were known for their supernatural hearing more so than the shifters. But after a closer inspection I realized it was a sound. A faint one but noticeable to be sure.
Almost like a training dog whistle.
“Do you hear that?” Not wanting to waste more time I started picking up speed and grabbing on to thicker branches that could easily hold my weight. The universe should bless the pack for wanting forests around them. It very well might save our lives.
“You could hear it, too? I thought my ears were ringing.” Char huffed but kept pace with me.
“I have a very bad feeling about this, Char.”
I should’ve kept my mouth shut. For some reason whenever I voiced something horrible, it was as if I spoke it into existence. It always happened.
“You had to say it, didn’t you.” Char knowing my damn luck groaned as if in pain.
