Chapter Nineteen

Helena returned to Roman’s sanctuary that night, her heart filled with a mix of contentment and joy. And, for the first time in a while, she went to bed with the happy thought of Cliff’s image, swirling in her mind.

The following morning, she considered meeting with her friends, and letting them know of her intentions. Still, this was a thought she knew she would quickly come to regret. The battle with Redfield’s clan was only hours away. Her friends would tell their mates; then, they would surely have the biggest argument in their entire lives. They had to be united, and Helena could not jeopardize that unity by disclosing something that could wait another day. She could already imagine their reactions. None of them would like it: they would shout at her; accuse her of being reckless; but, even if they did, she would not change her mind. Monica’s words had been in her mind, ever since their chat at “Joe’s” diner.

“It’s time you did something for yourself.”

Helena might have been the guardian angel of Paxton; yet, this was a title that could not melt the ice in her heart. The pack could honor her a hundred times, and she would still feel lonely. There was only one way for her to break the chains of her loneliness; only one man who could pull her out of the solitude that she had chosen for herself; and she was not prepared to let him go, regardless of the cost.

A few minutes before 4am, she was standing in front of the windmill she had mentioned to the four females the previous night. The elevation helped her have a wonderful view of the beautiful town that the vampires wished to ravage. Flickering lights; narrow roads; cozy, wooden cabins; barns and stables; all were spread out before her, bringing peace and tranquility, that was only disrupted by the occasional dog bark. The scent of wood, burning in fireplaces, drifted in the air. The atmosphere appeared to be so clear that she could even notice smoke rising from chimneys in the distance. Helena couldn’t take her eyes off the majestic scenery, not even when she caught a glimpse of the four shifters, strolling up the hill.

“Good morning, Helena,” Olivia’s high-pitched voice tore the silence, as her beautiful face blocked the witch’s view. “We’re waiting for your orders.”

“Take a good hard look around you, girls,” Helena urged, her tone firm. “This is what we’re fighting to save. Follow me.”

“It sure is pretty out here.” Amy agreed, as the witch turned around.

“Did you bathe in those scents I sent you?” Helena asked, as they began their ascent up the hill.

“Yep,” Olivia was quick to reply. “Hazelnut, strawberry, azalea, cherry… I got the strawberry one. It smelled so good I wanted to drink it.”

“Good,” Helena praised, as she strode past a broad fork between two trunks. “Guys, things are going to get ugly out there. When Redfield’s goons start chasing you, you will all feel the need to shift. It’s your nature; that’s how you respond to danger. But, you have to fight it. Unless one of them catches you – which is highly unlikely, if you ask me – do not shift. Am I making myself clear?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Amy said, walking alongside her. “I still haven’t figured out how you’re going to destroy them. Would you mind telling us?”

Helena slowed her pace, unwilling to continue this conversation. Her company was young and ignorant, but she was not there to satisfy their curiosity. Their mission was simple. What she would do was her own business. Furthermore, she had to find a suitable hiding spot. So, the witch kept her mouth shut, as she took a few, inquisitive glances around her. The edge of the cliff was less than fifty yards to the right. If their enemies were close, the shifters would have smelled them. Helena focused her attention to the rest of the woods. Sadly though, the weak moonlight was almost of no use. Only a few beams were peeking through the vegetation, just enough to help her make out shapes of trees and bushes on the forest floor. A massive balsam fir lay a few paces to the left. One of its branches was thicker than the others, and more than twenty feet above the forest floor.

“That’s where I’ll be.” She raised her hand to point up at it, as she lowered her voice. “Continue east. Do not talk to each other. When you smell them, laugh out loud to draw their attention. Good luck.”

The young shifters ambled off in the direction Helena had advised, as she found herself on the branch. She pulled her staff out of her cloak, and leaned forward, to peek through the leaves. To her pleasure, they were all silent. Indeed, the only sounds she could pick up were brush, twigs and leaves, giving way as Amy, Olivia, Ava and Breanne marched on. Olivia, the blonde and the tallest of the lot led the way, while her comrades followed on her flanks. Their sight filled Helena with hope for the future. They were all obedient, and concentrated on what they had to do. Their relaxed posture could fool everyone into thinking that they were actually taking a walk in the forest. None of them would even steal a glance around her. Inevitably however, in a matter of just a few minutes, the four women passed beyond her sight. Disappointment unfurled in her chest. Helena pressed her lips together, wondering about her next move. It was then that she recalled the vampire’s ambush, and the spell she had used to save the brothers’ lives. Still, before she could utter the first word of the incantation, a hearty, feminine laughter resounded through the wilderness.

“Come to mama, cold ones,” she thought to herself, wrapping her fingers around both ends of her staff, as she pointed it down to the ground. Killing rage began to sweep through her, as the vampires’ feral snarls ripped through the air. Olivia was the first to emerge on the path, looking over her shoulder, as she hurtled back, in the direction they had come from. Breanne, Ava and Amy were just a few yards behind her. Just after the straggler came into view, Helena spotted a pair of yellow eyes in the darkness, running parallel to the trees. Snarls grew in ferocity and number alike, as more of his kind stormed out into the woods. The witch glanced left, only to discover that even more vampires were hunting them. The girls’ strides were long and very fast indeed, but their foes’ quick bursts of speed brought them closer to them by the second. Helena counted a total of twenty-three pairs of eyes, chasing after the four friends, as they neared the balsam fir she was on.

“Gods of war – Forge my path

Bring the cold ones to my wrath

Heathen kings – Feel my desire

Trap them all behind a wall of fire”

A dark-red beam shot down the top end of her staff, as she completed the incantation. The bright light flew across the forest, singeing branches, twigs and leaves in its wake. Brush and undergrowth were thrown across the forest floor, as it landed just behind the legs of the last vampire. Maintaining a firm, steady grip on her stick, Helena began to draw a line of fire, parallel to her foes. Leaping flames revealed their faces, as they gained height. The one leading the lot looked up at her, as the fire bypassed him. The witch dismissed him with an ironic smile, as she turned her staff slightly left. One by one, the vampires sped to the left, away from danger, as she prepared her trap.

“Jump!” cried Olivia, as the fire shot past them. Each and every one of the shifters lunged through the flames, as Helena’s fiery noose surrounded her adversaries and scorched wood and leaves in its path. A deep grunt fled her lips, as she completed the circle. Nothing could save them from their doom now. Speed or any of their other skills were utterly useless. With a snap of her fingers, she teleported back to the spot she had stopped earlier, facing her masterpiece, as her company rose from the ground. Holding her staff in front of her, she tapped her index finger on the top end, as she sucked in her deepest breath. She tipped her head down, as a small fireball sprang from the tip. Her strong puff instantly turned it into a massive blaze, roaring as it shot towards her trap. Trees bent in the wind, as one by one, the bodies of her enemies were scorched. Helena sighed in relief, watching, as their ashes flew up into the air.

As she tried to comprehend what she had accomplished however, familiar sounds snapped her out of her thoughts. Ribs cracked like dry twigs and rippled, as she spun around. Olivia’s neck, muscles and fingers changed shape within moments, as she shed her human skin. Her legs shortened and thinned, her nose was replaced by a muzzle, as her human ears gave their place to the wolf’s prick ears. Shiny, black fur sprung from them, as the beast opened her ice-blue eyes. Throwing her head back, she let out a tremendous howl that reverberated through the wilderness, as her friends burst into loud laughter. Even though she had instructed them otherwise, Helena could not scold her. They had succeeded in their first mission. A celebration was only fair.

The witch smiled down at the wolf, as a wonderful sense of joy filled her heart. But then, another sound rose above the laughter, one that froze the blood in her veins: a clap. Four, sarcastic claps, to be exact. Helena quickly turned her head to the left, as tension tightened the back of her neck. Cliff was standing next to his SUV, a few yards down from the beginning of the path. Feelings of happiness died out in the blink of an eye, like the flame on a birthday cake candle. Without wasting any time, she tossed her staff down, and started down the hill, locking her gaze on him, as cold sweat washed over her. He was leaning back against the driver’s side window, his arms folded across his chest, as he stared into the void. The hollow look in his eyes broke her heart, as she closed the distance between them. She was used to their kindness, not their emptiness.

“And to think that I drove up here to clear my head,” Cliff spoke in a faint voice, as she halted close to him. “Talk about irony.”

“Please, let me explain myself,” Helena requested, her voice cracking, as she reached her hand up to his shoulder.

“When I, uh…” he faltered, keeping his gaze away from hers; “…visited Shandaken hospital the other day, I asked for a staff list. One name stood out: Monica Mills. I remembered Tom Riker’s crazy story last year, about some…” he paused, “huge wolf that had snapped his wrist. He was married to her. The nurses told me she lived in Paxton, with a guy named Raul Bradford, and that she’d recently had his child. I saw his picture in his brother’s place. Both of them are built like goddamn brick houses. Anyway, when I interviewed some of the locals, one of them said something like: ‘When Raul’s brother was taken.’ I asked him what he meant, but all he kept saying was that he’d confused Raul with someone. My brother was pretty secretive about what he’d been doing. He just told me he was on the verge of a huge breakthrough; and, someday, the whole world would be talking about what he and his team had discovered. You don’t have to explain anything, Helena. I can connect the dots. It wasn’t grizzly bears that attacked that facility was it?”

“No,” she whispered, struggling to believe the calmness in his face and his voice alike. “They’re shifters, Cliff: Part human; part wolf. They live in packs, just like in the wild. It’s true. Riker had abducted Ray. He was running experiments on him. His pack broke into the facility to extract him.”

“Packs…” Cliff let out a huff of amusement, as an ironic smile spread across his face. “As a federal agent, I have access to birth records across the country. I looked your name up. I wasn’t surprised when I saw that the only Helena Lockhart in upstate New York had been born back in 1909. I thought to myself: ‘Ok, it’s weird, but the country’s been in two world wars since then. Lots of records were lost during that time.’ I got suspicious when I read about witches being able to stay young using magic in the book I showed you. I didn’t want to believe it, until I saw your little performance tonight.”

“I’m so sorry, Cliff,” Helena sighed, biting her lower lip, as she leaned towards him. “I was going to tell you about all this tomorrow morning.”

Just as she finished her sentence, she realized how wrong she had been. He was in pain; he just wouldn’t show it to her. The tear that streamed down his cheek was enough proof of that.

“So many lies…” Cliff whispered, squeezing his eyes shut, as he unfurled his arms. “Why did you cover for them, Helena? What are they to you?”

“My family,” she breathed, sliding her hand across his shoulder. But, what he did next sent her heart into a downward spiral. He took a quick step to the left, as one more tear rolled down his face. “It’s a very long story, but, we’re really close. We’ve fought wars together, Cliff; wars against creatures beyond your imagination.”

“Like that monster up there?” He asked, whipping his head to face her, as he pointed up at Olivia’s wolf.

“Please, don’t call them that,” Helena begged, gently shaking her head sideways, as her own tears blurred her vision.

“Speaking of family…” Cliff heaved a long, deep sigh. “I’ve figured everything out, apart from your niece’s death. Who killed her?”

The question she had been dreading flooded her heart with a mix of regret and gut-wrenching pain. She didn’t have the strength to look at him anymore. Still, the time of lies had passed. Helena had already shared with him long-overdue truths. One more remained, and she was not going to hide it from him.

“I did,” she confessed with a whisper, as tears toppled over the edges of her eyes. “It was self-defense. She was going to kill me.”

“Noooo!” the cry of Cliff’s despair reverberated through her skull, as he rolled the fingers in his right hand into a fist. In a quick move, he spun around. Dozens of shards of glass were thrown onto the back seat of his car, as his fist punched through the window. Helena snorted back a sob, hesitantly raising her eyes, as he slowly turned around. His blood was flowing down his knuckles, as he slid his back down the side of his car. Cliff dropped to his knees, and dropped his head into his hands. The desire to hold him grew larger within her; yet the witch would not go near him. She could picture his reaction, and, unfortunately for her, he would have every right to push her away from him. Feeling her guilt gnawing away at her, she lifted her hands up to her temples, as she stared down at the broken man he had become.

“Oh, my God…” Helena helplessly whispered, as his gentle weeps filled her ears. “What have I done to you…?” she wondered, running both hands through her hair.

“Leave, Helena,” Cliff urged, tipping his head back, as he opened his eyes to slits. “Get out of here.”

“Leave?” She sniffled, her eyes snapping open at his words. “I…”

“I’m not arresting you,” he interrupted, his voice picking up volume. “I can’t.”

“Why?” Helena asked, her curiosity sending her tone two octaves up.

“Because if I do…” Cliff swallowed hard, as he turned to face her. “The court will learn about our relationship. The judge will find out about me, falling in love with a witch, older than my grandmother, but looking roughly my age. Nobody will understand, Helena. I’ll lose my credibility; my job. I’ll lose everything.”

Shockwaves rocked her to her very core, upon his confession. Once more, the noble man was proving his quality. And this time, she would not resist the burning desire to hold him. Falling to her knees, she thrust her left arm around his shoulders, and her right one around his neck. Helena pulled him near, feeling her pain scorching her insides, as she laid a tender kiss on his cheek.

“Thank you,” she whispered, her lips shaking, as her tears soaked his skin. “I’m sorry. God, I’m so sorry…” she sniffled, splaying her fingers over his cheek. “I’ll never forget you, Cliff Daniels: ever.”

Once acquiring her staff, a picture of the frozen surface of Clover Lake ran through her mind. The witch of Paxton couldn’t consider going to her friends. They would all be in great spirits due to her latest accomplishment, and Helena was in no mood for a celebration. She longed for privacy and solitude, somewhere to pick up her pieces. She needed to mourn yet another, failed romance.