Chapter 25: Chapter 25

The wolves and the good witch

The carving

"How did you know we were planning against the vampires? And how did you find out our spot?" I asked Lylah that was in my office wearing a long white dress made out of pure silk, with a long thin necklace around her neck and a moonstone pendant that rested on her chest like most witches, which I never noticed she had before.

She lifted the watch I have lost the day I left in a hurry, in search of the thing in the photo my ex-boss gave me.

"This. You left it in your office the day you last came for work. I kept it safe for you just in case you came back. When I found out our boss fired you I put a locator spell on the watch in the hopes to find you and return it to its master. Instead, it showed me more than just images of your location. I found what you are and what you were planning to do. So here I am now."

Mei was listening to Lylah as she was sitting down on the sofa with her legs elongated sideways.

"I believe she could be a good asset, having a witch on our side is good," Mei said shrugging her shoulder that was resting on the arm of the sofa looking at Jake, dad, Malakai and myself.

"I know this lady decently well. She never even harmed a fly back when we worked together. I trust her. How do you plan on helping?"

She laughed and then stopped to smile. "I have everything you ask for in these pair of hands."

She paused for a second, "I can locate the vamps' spot, place a barrier spell around your area, give each of you more strength to fight, slow down the vampires' speed if you like. Anything that makes them more vulnerable. The luck is on your favour already since you are thousands more then they are," she explained.

I sat on the chair behind my desk carelessly and scratched my cheeks and beard trying to imagine it all in my head.

"Seems like a plan. What do you think dad? You seem to be quieter than usual."

Dad looked at me for a few seconds still wearing a worried look on his face. He inhaled strongly and stood up from his seat to get closer to my desk.

"Son, I am not sure if it is a good idea, to welcome a witch in our pack. Like she has said before, it is because of her kind that we are in such a mess."

I stood up from my seat and slammed my hand on the desk.

"Father! How dare you judge someone you have never met? Just because one is unfaithful doesn't mean that the rest of her kind are bad. You should apologise immediately for being impolite with a good friend of mine. She is trying to help. I trust her with my eyes closed."

I felt really upset seeing my dad not trusting on both Lylah and myself.

"I would never do something to harm my kind father," I growled getting more furious.

"You are right son. I am sorry, to both of you. I do have trust issues with witches, and that is because of what happened to me in the past and what we ate going through today. But if you offer your help to make us stronger, then, I don't see any harm in giving you a chance."

He smiled, nodding at both Lylah and myself.

He sat back down on a chair further away then he was sitting on before feeling ashamed.

"Well. I wish to secure this place for sure. These surroundings here most especially."

I moved my fingers around our area on the map to show her the full place.

"Can you locate the strongest point for me?" She asked.

She looked at me as I showed her my confused look.

"How should I know?" I asked.

I looked at Mei that was now approaching me.

"Close your eyes and extend your strong arm towards the map," Lylah said, moving closer to the map.

I did as I was told and I could hear Lylah chant in a low voice.

"Asai stand irr narmy fall fands caromi to e pla wha is e straless."

She repeated the chant for a few more times, then stopped. I opened my eyes slowly and looked at my finger pointing on a spot.

"Is that it?" I asked.

I looked down at my finger that was now pointing at a spot.

"Whose room is that?" She asked.

"Ours," Mei responded.

"Care to take me there?" Lylah asked.

"Sure," Mei answered, standing up from the sofa, moving towards the door.

We showed Lylah our way to the bedroom. It was just Mei, Lylah and myself.

"What are we doing here?" I asked curiously.

"Strengthening this packhouse, of course, preventing from having any bloodsucker entering your home."

She stopped looking at the surroundings in the room, touching some of the furniture like she is trying to feel its energy.

"There will be a bright light that resembles the rays of the sun and the vampires will not dare try to enter these premises. You will not see it, but it will blind the forbidden."

Her eyes rested on a photo of Mei and I smiling at the camera embracing each other. It was taken a couple of weeks after we gathered back the moonshine pack into the other smaller packhouse. She brought it down from the wall and turned it around.

"Here. This is the strongest spot."

She started to carve something at the back of it with her fingers whilst chanting in a low voice.

"Brine ligh win dhas hous, fi ach loom, ma tem brigh." She kept repeating it, then stopped and looked at it smiling.

I could see some light faintly coming out of the carving. It was the sign of the wolf howling at the moon.

"As long as the carving remains exposed, the vampires will not dare enter. Only the day walkers will ignore it, so make sure not to let them come into this room or they will break the spell."

I nodded and looked at Mei.

"We will make sure that we have enough guards to keep this room safe then," Mei nodded and smiled.

"Thank you Lylah," Mei said looking at her.

"Don't thank me yet. We still have so much more to do."

We started to walk back into the halls. Jake ordered everyone to gather there for the evening speech like we always do and they were all waiting for my arrival.

"Good evening fellow friends. As you already know from earlier we have a good witch on our side taking care that she would make our home safer and more impossible to have a surprise invasion of the unwanted guests. There are a few things I need to cover before I give her time to explain to you what she will do." I pointed my arms at Lylah and looked at each other

"Tomorrow will be the official day of the destruction of the vampires. No more fearing them. The forest is ours and we deserve to feel safe in our natural habitat as we run amongst the trees and feel the fresh soil beneath our feet."

Everyone started to shout "yeah!" "Amen to that" "wuuuuww" and other expressions that showed that they were being encouraged.

"Now, I will need four alphas to guard my bedroom door as it contains a valuable item that prevents the vampires from entering the premises. Daywalkers are unfortunately excluded from the spell so they will not be afraid to come inside, therefore we need to be cautious. Sure enough, they will try to break the spell so that every kind would be able to enter and invade. We will not allow that. Geordie, Yanick, Celine and Jeremy. Would you be able to be the ones who take care of this?" The four of them nodded in approval.

"Thank you. I will need fifty of you to be ready in wolf form guarding here, these halls to eliminate every possibility of day walkers to even manage to climb up the stairs. Jake, I need you to choose the right candidates for me. A hundred of you will be outside the entrance hall. Alpha Nina, will you be so kind as to choose them for me?" She nodded.

"Great. The rest will be scattered around the whole forest so we will not give any vampire the chance to escape. Now Lylah, if you must" I said moving aside for her to take my place.

"Greetings to you all. As you already know I am here to assist in the battle against our common enemies. As a witch, I have certain abilities to help change the future. I do it for a good cause in a more natural way than others. Only with your permission, I would like to bless you with better strength throughout the fight in the hopes to have better leverage over the vampires."

She waited for the packs' responses as they started chatting filling the silence with their voices mumbling. The alpha of each pack nodded for approval in the name of the omegas and betas. Lylah smiled at them for reassurance then closed her eyes and chanted, raising her arms wide. Her hair started to blow away from her face as her body was lifted from the ground. She started whispering, then she raised her voice enough for the last pack standing at the back could hear her.

"Brin tes fittiers e stren ey ne to brin teow e eneme."

The bulb lights in the room started to flicker and for a second, darkness took over, hearing the sound of the wind and the buzzing of electricity. Then silence filled the room and the lights turned back on, making everyone's eyes twitch. All the babies and very young children started to cry and their mothers were trying to calm them back down.

"You will all feel the power tomorrow as you lay eyes on your first vampire. May you have the blessing of the moon goddess, and may she blow the light of the moon on to you."

She smiled and looked at me. Knowing that it was my turn to talk again I moved forward.

"What else is better than to end the day with your bellies full? Dinner is served!"

Everyone clapped and then they started to head for the tables that were set in the usual place, the largest dining room I have ever seen. Mei, Lylah and I joined them as soon as the hall was empty.

Here is the link to my facebook fan page

https://www.facebook.com/rishanovel/

Part 2 The good witch

Mei's POV

Luka was still fast asleep so I took the opportunity to just admire the man next to me. He was breathing softly as we were both facing each other. I couldn't help myself not to touch his cheeks which I did gently, caressing him whilst I could. I think he felt my cold hands warming up against his face as he lifted his hand cupping mine still with his eyes closed.

"You already awake?" He asked me still with his sleepy deep voice.

"Only to watch you sleep my darling," I said as my eyes gazed on his lips.

He opened his breathtaking grey eyes that met mine as he leaned in for a kiss.

"I am hoping that today will be a winning day for us. I am so done worrying about everything. I don't want our child and future children to be brought up not knowing what the forest offers because we won't risk facing the vampires."

He held his hand on my still flat belly caressing it. I smiled and inhaled sharply.

"We won't have that kind of future for our kids and the next generations to come. We fight today to win tomorrow's freedom."

I brought my fingers through his hair, noticing that he was growing a few white strings of hair from the front.

"Let's get up, my old man. We need to train early, remember?"

I rolled over and got up feeling energetic. It might be that I was nervous and that drew my energy level up. I wore my green training top and black training trousers that would match with Luka's clothing.

I walked down the stairs to join the packs for training. Lylah was having a conversation with the children that have gathered around her enjoying her storytelling as they were all sitting down on the floor.

"It was a bit, yes, but then I got used to the tingly feeling, Nelly said to Sindy. The tiny fairy smiled at her response and wondered when she will ever get to her fifteenth birthday to be able to have magic too like her older sister."

I approached Lylah and the kids slowly, admiring her. She knows how to entertain the pups. Lylah looked up towards my direction and stopped the story. A few kids started to protest and so she smiled at them and brushed her fingers over their hair.

"Good morning Mei. How are you feeling today?"

She looked at my belly as she raised her eyebrows. I looked down rubbing both my hands on my belly smiling.

"Can't wait to have him in my arms," I answered having the feeling that its a boy.

"Too early to say if you are trying to ask me to check for you. You cannot yet tell what it will turn out to be. Either or, they are both rewarding, right?" She asked looking back at the kids hugging a few of them.

"Where is it?" One four years old blonde girl asked.

Both Lylah and I giggled. Lylah pointed at my belly to show her.

"I don't see it though," she said innocently, searching my belly.

"Yes, that is because it is still growing inside her. In a few months, you will see her belly grow," Lylah explained to her looking at me.

I smiled back at her as I watched her lifting herself from the floor. She was wearing a light blue dress covering up to her ankles. She walked to me and took both my hands in hers and closed her eyes. I stared at her not knowing why she did that, waiting for her to open her eyes again and explain to me.

"Seems like everything is fine. Can't satisfy your curiosity though as of yet. As I said, the gender reveal must be later on," she said as she brought her hand to my belly. "I will take care of you till the day your pup is born."

Luka walked towards us as we were about to walk outside to watch everyone settling down for training.

"Morning Lylah," He said looking serious.

It takes him time to adjust in the morning. He rubbed both his eyes roughly before proceeding to continue with the conversation.

"Today we will not train as hard as the other days to allow the pack the energy they need for later. I hope that they are ready," he explained.

"They are ready Luka. I promise you that. One thing though. You will have some losses before the war is over, but you will manage to win."

Lylah looked at us with a determined face as Luka looked at her with concern.

"I don't want any losses. Is there anything you can do to help?" he asked.

"I have already done my best. I cannot cheat death. It is against the good witches' rules. Those kind of spells are dark and can never be used."

Luka nodded in acceptance then looked outside at everyone like he is seeing them for the last time.

"It's time," he said after a while. "Mei, let's go".

It was half an hour into training when we all had a large explosion coming from outside our territory, yet not so far from it. We all went silent in shock.

"The daywalkers are trying to trick us. They want us to go outside to investigate and kill us during the process.

"No one leaves from here," Lylah screamed.

Luka, Lylah and my self ran towards the gate to check where the bomb landed.

"There," Luka said pointing at its direction. "You know what this means?" He continued.

"They have weapons," I said now getting nervous.

Lylah placed a hand on our shoulders.

"They don't know one thing though. They have no idea you have a witch by your side that can designate their explosions. I have even a better idea. Why not making them explode whilst they have them in their territory?" She smiled cheekily and waited for Luka's command.

He looked at me for a second then back at her. "Do it," he confirmed.

I left to gather all the kids inside to take them to the dungeons and as luna, I ordered everyone to take their places as Luka explained the day before.

"It's time. You must all get ready. I want all the pups to come with me."

There were hundreds of children that followed me down the long staircase that led to the prison cells. They were all empty and it was silent before the kids arrived.

"Right, now I need your ears for a second my darlings. I need you all to be quiet as soon as I give the order. We do not want to draw any attention towards the vampires. I want the oldest of you to be in front and the youngest at the back once we reach the dungeon. Lylah will do a spell for us to be invisible to trick the bloodsuckers from seeing us but they can still hear our every movement. They are ugly and scary and you don't want them to get close to you as they can make you become one of them."

Suddenly we all heard a very loud explosion. The packs that were outside must have gotten their ears burst. I hoped that everyone was ok within our walls.

"Ok now settle down darlings. Remember training. Just in case the ugly monsters spot us, we must be ready for the moment."

Luka's POV

I was preparing the pack with a motivational speech when I got interrupted by the loudest explosion I ever heard. By instinct, I was brought down to my knees as the sound wave hit my eardrums. Everyone started to groan and complain about pain as they hold their hands on their ears. I have left Lylah to do her magic near the gate and my gut told me to go check if she was ok. As soon as I reached the gate, she was on the floor looking drained and tired.

"Lylah," I called to her.

She looked up at me and that is when I felt my body feel numb.

"No, no, no, no, no Lylah. Help! Bring me a few doctors Nelson, hurry," I screamed.

As soon as I reached her, her body fell to the floor. I managed to reach for her head before it hit the ground.

"Lylah, stay with me. You are going to be ok."

She looked at me barely opening her eyes when suddenly I felt myself being shifted into a hallucination.

"Where am I?"

Looking down on the floor Lylah was gone. I looked around me and noticed I was someplace else. There were dozens of children playing in the field that was part of the large packhouse. My eyes settled on a beautiful rose that brought a smile on my face thinking I should give it to Mei but my thoughts were interrupted as I heard a voice coming from behind me.

"We don't have much time Luka. The vampires are closer then we all thought. The explosion was a few hundred meters away. Its blast tore my insides in a dozen pieces. I don't have much hope. I will do my best to keep my body alive until the fight is over."

I looked at Lylah feeling ashamed of myself for not thinking about protecting her.

"Lylah, I have the best doctors one can find. They will help you get better. Just stay strong. Please, don't die. I don't want even one soul to die."

Lylah looked at me smiling "witches don't have a soul silly, remember?"

I felt myself being pulled back into reality as I watched Lylah fade into nothing.

"Hold tight. Soul or not, I am going to save you anyway."

I lifted her holding her tight against my chest and walked towards the house pack entrance. Two doctors whom one was female came running down the hallway with two other male nurses following them behind with a stretcher.

"Save her. She got caught in the blast of the explosion."

I brought her down on the stretcher whilst they were taking out all the equipment necessary to give her first aid before proceeding to the hospital.

"Pulse, very low, breathing, barely, bleeding none externally but possibly internally. Raylene, ventilator."

Bernard took the ventilator from Raylene and placed the pipe in her mouth gently. They checked her body from any bruises which seemed there were a few that were possibly getting bigger as time went by so they rushed her inside.

I mind linked Mei to check if everything was ok from her side.

"We are settled," she said back.

"Lylah got injured, she is taken to hospital," I informed her.

"How, what happened?"

I didn't have much time to explain everything so I just ended the conversation with "tell you later" and rushed back outside to make sure that everyone got themselves ready for battle.

"I need all the alphas to follow me. We will go to their shelter where they keep the offsprings and burn it down. We will start from there since it should be the easiest place to start from. They will get much weaker if they have no one to replace them after their death."

I waited for them to gather all behind the gate before I ordered the guards to open. Half of the Alphas changed into wolf form which was all in front of the ones that chose to remain in human form. Since I was the one leading I was in front, in wolf form. Me being the largest of the wolves I felt myself overpowering everyone and everything and got motivated that we were going to win.

"We sneak in, no sounds. Follow me."

I scented everywhere and let my nose lead the way. We entered into their territory and I kept sniffing our way to the offsprings location where the smell was getting nastier. Everywhere smelt of rotting skin and iron which almost made me gag a couple of times. After a few minutes, I managed to find the right spot.

"Look at that! Oh gosh!" One alpha said, disgusted.

Their nest was dark and massive, with a lot of slimy purple stuff coming down from everywhere especially the ceiling. There were large skin-looking transparent sacks, filled with a transparent purple liquid. In each sack, there were baby vampire fetuses that were floating in that liquid.

You could see the shadows of each child from inside their eggs moving around, which looked disgusting to watch. I moved towards one of these sacks and noticed that the offspring was still forming the skin around its face, with its sharp teeth exposed and its eyes were still without the eyelid. Disgusting! We couldn't waste time so I asked a few of the alphas to go further in and start the fire whilst I placed a few more alphas in different spots to help burn it all down.

Here is the link to my facebook fan page

https://www.facebook.com/rishanovel/