Page 24 of Total Eclipse of the Moon
The male lycan fighting her fit the fictionalized cliché appearance of a werewolf with his overgrown facial hair and shaggy shoulder-length, stringy, slightly greasy brown hair. He towered over her by more than a foot, having shifted to his stronger feral form for the battle, and had already landed a few good strikes on her. Blood dribbled down one side of her face from a forehead wound. Several defensive cuts covered her hands and wrists.
"I'll kill him,"Baku growled.
She jumped away from the guy’s knife arc and threw a vial of fluid at him while murmuring words.
Nothing happened
"I got your number, witch." The lycan swiped fluid off his face and chuckled. He smirked and yanked two protective talismans from beneath his shirt. Those belonged to Shane's brother, Ky, who they had recently freed from incarceration.
When his brother had been imprisoned in one of the FenCor detention facilities two months ago, they’d stolen everything from him—personal items as well as his psychological stability. This lycan suggesting both talismans would protect him meant he had no clue what either did. The hexenspiegel that dangled on this lycan’s neck protected from magic spells, but not potions. The other was a blessed pendant of St. Michael, the patron saint who watched over Ky. Guaranteed, this guy wasn’t doing the necessary prayers nor had the baseline unwavering belief in God and his saints to garner the saint’s protection, much less get the angel’s attention.
The potion not working suggested something had happened to Madeline’s magic. Something which likely had nothing to do with this lycan or Ky’s talismans.
Without asking, Baku merged with his mind. No fighting about it. No snarky comment. They agreed on their need to protect her. Ironically, it was the smoothest moment he'd had with the demon.
Shane ran. He caught the lycan by the hair a few feet from her, stopping the knife’s collision course with her head, and hauled him backward.
The male spun out and attacked him, fangs bared and now fully converted to his primal form. His knife angled down toward Shane’s gut.
Madeline cried out a warning.
With a hard smile, Shane let himself relax into it. This was a new power that came from cooperating with Baku. The moment the blade should’ve impaled him, his body dissolved into immaterial dust. The lycan attacker stumbled, trying to catch his footing. Shane took form behind him.
The guy whirled a slow circle until he found him.
Shane said, "Listen, mate, you’re way out of your depth here. You’ve been programmed, as in brainwashed, by some whacked humans to do their bidding. Did you know this?" He waved at the guy's neck. "You're wearing a collar like a dog. They put that on you."
The blank stare he got as the male calculated his attack meant he didn’t care. His programming, absolute and unquestioned, ruled.
The lycan launched a roundhouse kick that hit only mist again. With the unexpected lack of impact, the guy tripped and landed on his knees. "What the hell are you?"
"I’ll let you live if you walk away now and never come back." Shane held little hope the guy would listen.
The lycan removed a small pouch. Interesting move. The guy flung black powder in the general direction of both Shane and Madeline. Shane nudged her out of the way just in case it was real stuff. Out of the corner of his mouth he whispered, "Is it real?"
She shook her head. "Doesn't have an aura."
Genuine volcanic salt bespelled by a talented witch would’ve hurt them both a bit. Properly bespelled regular salt might’ve burned Madeline. That meant this was cheap black-market knock-off crap.
"Interficere maga," the lycan said in Latin. Kill the witch.
Laughter worked its way up Shane’s throat. "Are you trying to step into the deep end of the magic pool and do spell casting?"
"What’s so funny?" The lycan lunged at him and threw more salt while yelling, "Percute te." Then he switched to English and threw some more. "Smite thee!"
Shane dodged the knife headed back his way and rematerialized another few feet away. He swiped at tears of laughter blurring his vision and tried to gain enough control to see straight and stop laughing. Madeline, too, compressed her lips against laughter. She’d cleaned up her face and the bleeding from her forehead had stopped. Good.
Shane held up a hand to catch his breath and hold back another round of laughter. "Seriously? Do you even know what that powder is you’re tossing at us?"
"It’s supposed to burn and neutralize witches."
"Did the bogus black-market witch you bought that junk off of tell you that? It’s regular house salt dyed black, not genuine black salt. You got swindled. Even if it was real stuff, you haven’t got the foggiest clue how to activate something like that, do you? I mean…" He snorted out a new round of laughs, barely managing to get out, "Smite thee?"
Madeline laughed, too, a beautiful and lighthearted sound. She shook her head and muttered, "Smite thee. It’s like he got his magic training from watchingShrek."
The guy threw more salt at them and screamed the same words.
Shane said, "You saying that is like a human kid holding up a fake wand while yellingwingardium leviosaand expecting something to levitate.Did you seesmite theework on TV or in an online video?" He glanced back at Madeline. "This guy’s funny." Technically, it didn’t matter if it was black salt or regular salt. Either could be activated to inflict powerful hurt on a witch. This lycan’s lack of understanding reflected a clear lack of magic study. "You must’ve gotten your information about spells online."
