Page 81 of Wolves of the Rising Moon

Jonah joins the weird huddle we have in the middle of the clearing, but Drago is still out in the open, waiting for his turn to slay a Wendigo.

“I’m growing tired of your games, evil spirit.”

“Poor Drago. You have only one duty in this life, and you’ve already grown tired. Not a very good champion, are you?”

“I said I was tired of you dicking around in the trees. Now get down here and face me so I can end this.”

Again, the voice comes from everywhere and nowhere. But it also slows down and deepens, like someone changing the settings on an analog recording.

“As. You. Wish.”

The last word was so low, it vibrated my bones.

I almost puke right where I lie.

Chapter24

Shock and Awe

I smell it first.Rot and death and not at all like my sickly sweet vampire friends. This is grotesque. Putrid.

It lands right in front of us, but I can hardly see it through the knot of muscular men making body cages around me.

I’m OK with that.

What I do see is enough to haunt me for the rest of my life. It’s exactly how my First Nations friends described, but also so much worse.

Sunken eyes, so deep in its head it almost looks eyeless until I catch it in the right light.

And when I do catch a glint of yellowed sclera in the moonlight, I force myself not vomit at the wriggling maggots and worms encasing the eye.

I keep my gaze on Drago instead. Powerful, huge, and glowing with white-blue power.

Like the lightning from before.

“You weren’t supposed to be here,” Drago says.

“Oh? This is part of my territory. I roam freely between the shores of the east and the central plains. I only cull your western mountain land when the mood strikes.”

When the fucking mood strikes? Is that what we are to this awful being? A whim? An afterthought?

“And I’m here to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

The creature laughs, a dry choking sound. “You’re powerful. I’ll grant you that, wolf. But you’re nothing compared to one such as I.”

Will, can you access the magic Claudia gave you?

I-I dunno. Hang on.

Magic is a stupid thing. It’s always fucking my life up. But just this once, I’m hopeful. Hopeful that Claudia gave me what I need to beat this thing. Hopeful that somehow, my twisted past with magic is the exact thing I need to crush this Skeletor lookin’ motherfucker.

So I go within, to the place I keep my fur, the place I used to keep the healer magic.

OK, that doesn’t work.

I don’t feel a goddamn thing.

Not a single glimmer of magic.

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