Chapter Thirty-Seven: Romulus

The war has begun. It would have been foolish to assume that the strike wouldn’t have come the night after we breached the tunnels. In fact, it would have been foolish to assume that the strike wouldn’t be coming the day after I got kicked around. Daffyd is on a high, and I understand why. I don’t know what I could possibly do to remedy the situation. The vampires have breached our border and are pushing deeper into the forest. I am not ready for a fight. Not yet, that is. I need a few more days to heal. To recuperate. Ill timing and war wait for no man.

So, I gear up. I am stronger in my wolf form, but that will have to wait for now. This battle could rage on for days. I can’t expend all my energy in one strike on the first night. Heavy ballistics armor. A shotgun over the back and a machine gun in front. A bowie knife on my hip and in my boot. A few smaller, more concealable blades here and there. You can never have too many knives.

I make my way down and out of my house. Gun fire blasts through the crisp, night air. That and terror filled screams of those that were not able to shift in time, those that thought bullets were a better solution and those that tried to scatter and hide.

There was no time to speak to my people. There was no time to prepare for this fight. There was only time to lick our wounds from the defeat before being thrust into another battle. The witches have abandoned us. Or rather, they’ve left those willing to stay and fight to stay and fight. Verona and Atticus opted out. A wise decision. They had no place in this war. They are not ready for this situation. For this kind of battle. They are weak. Not in the traditional sense of the word, but rather, they’re just not ready for a fight.

I do know a few stayed. Not nearly enough to make a difference in this battle but enough to give a kick in the right direction. They may have more troops, but we have the magical advantage. Moving deeper into the forest. It’s quiet. Too quiet for a start. Then it erupts. Vampires that have breached security surround me. One runs, scrapes me across the chest with his long claws, and is on the other side of me. Another does the same. They’re toying with me.

“Big bad wolf too afraid to play?” I lift my gun and shoot a few bullets out in the direction of the one that spoke. I miss horribly. Another scrape across the vest. They’re too fast and my mind’s not in it. Not like this. Luckily, to my relief, a few wolves come to where we are and immediately start tearing away at the vampires that stand before us. Vicious snarling and the snapped bone beneath powerfully clenched jaws fill me with delight.

Enough of this, I think, running toward a tree, leaping in the air, and by the time I touch down I have shifted into my wolf form. I feel more powerful. More attuned, but I know I’m weak. Very, very weak.

I howl out into the night. My wolves know my distinctive call and know that I have now joined the fight. Hopefully, this spurs them on to fight harder. Myself and five others are running through the forest to the main breach. This is where, I believe, the vampires have begun their strike from. Wiping out the wolves on the border and pushing deeper. They’re not rushing in from all angles. They’re not splitting apart from a few brazen vampires. We reach a hill overlooking the main battle and there they are. Vampires flooding in from every direction, almost trapping a good number of wolves in a circle. We push down. Five of us are better than having no backup at all. When we near, we go low. Moving slower but more tactically. We near the back of a group that has circled a good deal of our forces. I can hear the battle continuing on elsewhere, so this is not it. Then we strike. I leap high into the air, my paws clawing two vampires in tremendous swipes. My large frame lands directly on the two fallen wolves, while a third vampire’s throat gets stuck between my jaws. I tear and he collapses.

Then the true battle begins. This was just a test. These trapped wolves are playthings as I was to the ones that circled me. Other wolves join and leave this battle as they are needed and as the tides dictate them to be. The smaller vampires stand no chance. Between my wide jaws and my powerful front paws, I tear through them. This doesn’t mean they don’t return the favor. With the crowd outnumbering us a great deal, we face the threat of multiple attacks in one. The five wolves that have joined me form an arched straight line as we fight. We try not to allow the vampires around us and those who do are swiftly dealt with by wolves that slowly join the fray.

Those ahead of us are in a circle formation, each protecting the other. A good tactic with these overwhelming forces. Various strike patterns, but we still stand no chance. We will fight and die for the honor of our people. If only they knew what this was truly about. Would they have continued the fight? Would they have been willing to give their life to the cause if they knew that Daffyd was the soul intention of this battle. A vampire that has long ago forgone any care to this fight, only now pushing forces and forces so as to not to lose favor among the people he commands. A selfish king that deserves nothing more than the death I so deeply wish to offer him.

The fight wages on and still and the numbers of the vampires seem to stretch on to infinity. With every vampire we kill, two more take his place. In the center of the line, with six more wolves taking our rear and four on each flank, we have created a solid fortress to break. The vampires, noticing that we will fight to our deaths, have spread out, giving many of us no room to breathe, but a bit more ground to move in. They were causing more harm or growing bored waiting for a turn with the trapped wolves, so they pushed on and so did we. We do not break nor cower. We fight and dominate. A force to be reckoned with.

Bullets whiz past our heads as a few more of our wolves come in among the crowd, and to my great surprise I see William among them. He gestures with his hand that I come to him but on my own time. There is no rush in a situation like this. And so, as soon as the moment presents itself, I dart off to him. I shift back into my human form the moment I get there. My face is bloody, body ripped and torn yet again.

“How did you even make it out of there?” The same could be said for him. Tattered and knackered, and still he’s back out here to fight.

“No time for that now. The Peace Grounds. Head down there. There’s someone waiting for you.” A cryptic message and one that I will follow for now. I believe I can trust him. “We’ll be right behind you,” he replies before returning to combat. I begin making my way to the Peace Grounds. He would have warned me if there was any danger.