Disclaimer:
~Big thanks to Enemyoffun for making this universe to play in, and to all my beta readers for helping me hammer out some of the details in this chapter. Also, a big thanks to djkauf, who's edits are always awesome.
Author's Note: I hope you all enjoy this chapter, as the action heats up a bit. Also, give EOF's "To Dance with the Devil" a read, as she was the character that started this universe. Please comment on this, I enjoy reading your comments and learning from them immensely.

Chapter 16

October 29, 2011
Alex and I ran as fast we could through the underbrush of the forest. The smells of the various trees flooded me as we ran; I could smell the various tress and grasses that permeated the forest. I could hear the guys trailing behind us and hoped that they couldn’t get a clean shot off. I looked over at Alex and could hear how winded she was starting to sound after we got into the forest some ways. I noticed how I wasn’t feeling as winded as she was. Must be that Were blood in me.

I looked ahead and hoped to find something that we could hide behind. Alex was showing signs of fatigue and I didn’t want her to collapse out here and be captured by whoever was after me. As far as I could tell, there were lots of trees ahead, but not much else. The trunks weren’t even thick enough for one person to hide behind, let alone two.

I kept searching ahead as the people trailing us kept following. The sound of their noise steadily grew fainter, so we must have been increasing our lead. Finally, I saw a big rock formation jutting out of the ground ahead.

“Quick, behind the rocks!” I called over to Alex.

She nodded and the two of us headed over there straight away.

“You okay?” I asked her, as we paused and crouched behind a rock formation.

“Yea,” she replied, breathing heavily. “Just need to catch my breath.”

“Okay, I’ll keep an eye out for them.”

I poked my head around the rock and stared back at the way we came. So far, I couldn’t see anyone following our trail. I breathed a small sigh of relief when I saw that we had some time to relax. I checked to see if I had my cell phone, and nearly panicked when I didn’t. I must’ve left it in my purse at the party. My Halloween costume didn’t seem to come equipped with pockets to stash things like that. I doubted that they would work up here in the forest anyway.

“Do you have your phone?” I asked Alex.

“Uhh…,” she said, checking the bag that was still around her shoulder. “Yeah, let me check.”

A few seconds later, she said, “Damn, no signal.”

Figures.

“Any idea how to slow them down or to lose them?” I asked, turning back to Alex.

She had started breathing a little more slowly, as I could see her expression race to try to find some way to help our current situation.

“Uhm…,” she thought, “I could try to manipulate the trees and branches, like they do in TV shows.”

“You mean pull a branch back and let it rip?”

“Yeah. But, I can use my magic to do that.”

“Sounds good to me.”

We sat there for a few minutes and all I could hear was the sound of our breathing. Also, for some reason, I could tell that we were sitting downwind, even though there was barely a breeze blowing through the area. I thought I smelled something familiar, but it was faint and I couldn’t tell what it was.

“I’ve got an idea,” Alex whispered.

“What?”

“Why don’t you turn into a wolf and attack them?”

“Me?” I replied, surprised.

“Sure, why not? Wolves are predators, aren’t they?”

“Yeah…, but–,” I stammered.

“But what?”

“Uhm…, I never fought as a wolf.”

She facepalmed and groaned, “You have got to be kidding me.”

“Wish I was. I’ve only been out and about as a wolf a few times. There was this big grey wolf that stopped my mother and me the first time I was out. And the other times, I felt like he was nearby, watching me.”

“Wow, that bites.”

“Bites? Really?”

“Sorry. Bad time, I know. Well, you might have to use your wolf form sooner or later tonight anyway.”

“You’re probably right.” I mumbled, “There goes this nice costume.”

“What’d you say?” she asked, dropping back down from looking over the top of the rocks.

“I said that this costume is probably going to be totaled when I turn into a wolf.”

“Why?”

I blushed furiously. “I was always naked when I turned into a wolf. I don’t know if I can with my clothes on and not lose them.”

“Ah…,” Alex replied, realizing my dilemma. “Well, if they are toward to shreds, I’ll still grab them and take them to mom to fix. She’s good at that.”

“Thanks,” I answered, smiling.

I heard something that perked up my ears, and quickly put my finger up to tell Alex to be quiet. She nodded and we both peeked out from behind the rocks.
In the distance, I could see two of the three figures walking up the hill. I could make out some of their grumbles. Apparently, Alex and I were making things difficult for them. I didn’t know if that was good news or bad news.

I signaled to Alex that we better get going, by pointing to the two of us and then off into the distance, further up the hill. She nodded, and we quickly struck out trying not to make too much noise. I did feel some pain in my legs as I continued to trek up the hill in heels. I was now definitely certain they were not made for long hikes like these. Alex was faring a little better in that department, although she was wearing heeled boots.

We made our way up the heel before one of us stepped on a branch and caused it to snap. We stopped dead in our tracks and looked back. I could hear shouting down there, and saw some movement in our direction.

“Crap!” I said.

Before we continued up the hill at a faster pace Alex did something. I wasn’t sure what, but I could hear the creaking of a pine tree branch farther back. I looked back and saw said branch looking awkward. When the guys pursuing us got to that tree, the branch snapped back into their faces.

I winced as I saw what happened. That had to have been painful. However, it didn’t really slow them down too much. One of the two goons was flat on his back as he took the branch very hard, the brunt of the impact. The other one managed to just get a large bruise and a lot of pine needles to the face.

“How did you…?” I asked, her turning my head slowly to face her.

“My family are Elementalists,” she explained. “We really excel at the magic that controls the natural elements.”

“Ah, okay.”

I watched as I saw the first goon try to help his partner out, but the second one looked like he was knocked out. I could smell the blood coming out of his nose from here. I heard someone shout from farther back, “Just leave him and get going!”

“Let’s go,” I said, as we began to run deeper into the forest.

I didn’t want to wait around for them to see if they kept coming. I just knew that they were and wanted to get away as quickly as possible.

After about a half hour of hiking and running through the forest and up and down the wooded hills, we eventually stopped at a small stream. The light from the crescent moon barely showed us that it wasn’t too wide, but it still was flowing at a brisk pace. My guess it was one that flowed into the lake down around town.

“What do you think?” I asked.

“Hop across the rocks to the other side?”

“Sounds good to me.”

We managed to find a set of rocks that didn’t look too difficult for us to use, and made it across in no time. The last rock felt loose, and I hoped that they fell in the water, unlike us. The crescent moon didn’t help too much for seeing in the dark, although it didn’t seem too dark to me. Probably some sort of Wolf night vision bleed through.

I heard the voices again and saw them emerge from the other side of the stream bed.

“There you are!” shouted one of the goons, as I could make out him lifting his arm.

I quickly jumped on Alex as a shot rang out from his gun.

“Thanks,” she said.

She flung her arm back and moved it across, like she was trying to get a fly to shoo.

I heard the water splash in the stream and could hear the guys shout, “Do you think it’s funny to splash us with cold water, witch?”

She spoke softly so that only I could hear her, “No, but this should knock you down for the count.”

I watched as she quickly clenched her fist. The goon that was splashed was in my field of vision, and I could hear him cry out in pain as the water that was on him froze solid.
I could hear Alex grunting as she tried to get out from under me, but I quickly rolled the two of us over so that we both could get to our feet and away from there. Alex motioned with her arm again while he was trying to get the ice off of him, and quickly added a lot more water to his body. She flash froze it again, and then she opened her hands out quickly.
The ice sitting all over his limbs violently shattered and exploded. I could smell blood as the ice tore through his flesh. He fell to the ground, shivering incredibly and in a lot of pain. I looked as blood poured from the wounds.

“C’mon,” Alex said, grabbing my arm and turning away from the stream.

A few more shots rang out after us, and I could hear a few ricochets off the trees. The leader of these two was still back there, and he apparently also had a gun with a lot more range than a simple pistol.

I swore, “Dammit!”

Alex and I didn’t bother to look back and find out what he was using, we just ran like hell.

Eventually, we came upon a forested path. Alex sighed thankfully, but I was worried that it would give them some tracks to follow. Alex agreed with me, but for now, our ankles were killing us for some smoother terrain. We still took the path at a jog, trying to keep ahead of our trackers.

We moved down the path quite a distance, and given how clean the path was of forest debris, it made me think that this was one of the hiking and bike paths that ran throughout the forest. It raised my hopes a little that we could end back in town, and hopefully we could find someone to help us. My hopes were dashed when we came to a rock formation that split the path in two.

One path went up and to the right, the other down and to the left. We couldn’t see very far down either of the paths, since the rocks did a good job of blinding the corners.

“Great…,” I commented with tons of sarcasm. “What are we going to do now?”

“Why don’t we take the path that leads downhill. That should get us back to town more quickly,” Alex reasoned.

“That sounds good, but I think we should split up.”

I looked back and could hear them quickly following us. Looks like we didn’t have much of a choice.

“Split up?” she argued at me. “What are you crazy?”

“No, of course not!” I fired back. “Look, they’re after me and not you. I don’t want anything to happen to you, okay?”

“What makes you think that anything is going to happen to me? Last I checked I knocked out of those goons with the branch, and crippled another with the ice.”

I nodded furiously and continued, “I know. But, I can’t ask you to do anymore. Not for me, not right now.”

“Why? Is this some last bit of male bravado in you? Trying to protect the damsel in distress? Because, last I looked, you fill that role just as much as I do.”

That was a low blow. I shrugged it off and said, “I guess so… yes, alright? Please, Alex. Do this for me. I want you to go and get help. You said it yourself, you know these woods better than most people. If anybody could find me out here, it’s you. Please, will you go and get help?”

I could hear the goons getting closer, and looked at her with a panicked expression. She glanced in the direction we had just come from and replied, angrily, “Fine. I’ll go. Just…, don’t get yourself killed, alright?”

“I promise I won’t.”

She nodded and quickly took off down the left path. I gazed down the path to make sure she was well on her way before I sent out in the other direction. Even though we were separated for a few seconds, I already began to miss her. I took the path at a jog, but soon found that this path just kept going up. This had to be some kind of mini-mountain that I was traversing. Just my luck.

I could hear two people behind me, and said to myself, “Damn! They must really want me.”

The path snaked around various rocks and went up and down over and over again. Whoever designed this trail should have been shot, I thought to myself. As I turned the last corner, I saw that it opened up to a ledge. I looked down and managed to see some of the cliff’s side. It had some ledges that would be good for rock climbing, but not many. It looked like I was at least a couple hundred feet up. Farther along, I could see a forest river flowing down below. In the distance, I could just make out some of the lights of town.

Great, I’m in sight of home, but trapped up here with no way out. Even a Wolf couldn’t make their way down the cliff without falling to his death.

I heard some huffing and puffing behind me and I whirled around and saw two of the three dark figures. One was brandishing his gun at me; the other was gasping for some air and clutching his legs. I could see that his pants were torn to shreds and I could smell the blood coming off of him from those wounds.

“You had to run, didn’t you?” the second one said. “You had to go and make this as difficult as possible.”

I could catch a glimpse of the second person’s face, and could see where the pine tree branch had connected. It looked like his nose was broken given by how much blood there was. I didn’t see his other friend, so I guessed that they just left him there and would go back for him once this all was over with. His hand was shaking a little as well, probably from the cold of the forest stream water and ice, but his aim could still do some damage if he pulled the trigger.

“Wouldn’t you?” I fired back.

“Probably,” he frankly replied.

“Then, what do you want with me?”

“Simple. Hand over the ring. I know you still have it.”

I glanced down at my bracelet, and began thinking, ‘They were after this thing? This thing that turned my life upside down and inside out?’

“My employer desires the symbol of the varlore, among other things. He knows that it can pave the way for great power,” the man continued. “I am authorized to use other means of persuasion to try to get it from you.”

“What makes you think that I want to do anything with you? You and your men tried to have me killed!”

“A simple misunderstanding,” he calmly replied. This guy was sounding like Vernon Stiles. However, it wasn’t Stiles, this man’s voice wasn’t gravelly the way Stiles’ was.

“If you hand over the ring, you will have my word that we will never trouble you again.”

“And I’m supposed to believe that?”

“I give you my word, and I always keep it.”

I didn’t believe that for a second. This guy’s voice sounded too oily, too much like a politician. The other guy was still shaking his hand holding the gun. He looked like he could fire the gun at any second, like it was taking all of his concentration to not pull the trigger. It seemed to me that he didn’t want to disobey the orders of his boss, even when he was in terrible pain. That probably said that the head goon was feared greatly by his men.

“However, I don’t have very much patience,” he continued. “You and your friend did manage to break my associate’s neck, and nearly tore this fellow’s legs apart. Hand it over quickly, or I’ll let my associate here kill you and take it off of your corpse.”

I gradually stepped back towards the edge of the cliff. If they were going to shoot me, then I wanted the force of the bullet to knock me over the cliff. I didn’t want them to get anything off of me. I heard a cawing out over the hill. It sounded familiar, like a raven calling out. I looked up and I could see two birds circling overhead like vultures, but they weren’t as big as those scavengers.

“Fine. Since you don’t want to be diplomatic, we’ll just have to do this the hard way,” the boss said, raising his own gun at me.

I heard both of the guns click, and he continued, “You have until three and then we shoot.”

I looked up at the birds, and could see them flying down towards the river. I had half a mind to jump and try to get caught in a branch of one of the trees down there to try to escape again.

“One,” the boss said counting.

They raised their guns at me. Time seemed to slow down for some reason, as I tried to quickly determine whether or not to jump.

“Two,” he continued.

The two ravens called out, as if they wanted me to follow. What did they expect? Me to jump after them and hoped that I flew with them. The most I could hope for was hitting one of the trees down there and that it didn’t do too much damage.

“Three!”

I turned and jumped. I could hear guns firing at me, but there seemed to be a third gunshot, as I heard one of the two men yell out in pain. Was there someone else up there? Did Alex come back and do something to them?

I didn’t give it much thought as I could see the ground racing to meet me. I crunched my eyelids together and I wished that I could somehow grow wings and fly away. I held out my arms and hoped that they would catch one of the branches until I felt the air change its flow from underneath them.

‘What?’ I thought to myself.

I opened my eyes and could see the ground pass underneath me, but it didn’t look like that it was growing any closer to me. In fact, it looked like I passing overhead.

I looked around and could see something black against the stars behind me, just sitting out there and not getting any closer. It moved up and down every so often, and I realized that I was doing that.

What happened? Did I actually grow wings?

I could see a few forest clearings nearby, and the lights of the town draw near. The river was beneath me, and I looked and could just make out a reflection against the water. There was bird looking back at me.I was a bird? How did that happen? I thought that I was a Wolf!

I started feeling panicky and felt my wings move up and down erratically. I heard some voices in my head shout, ‘Don’t do that! Keep them level!’

But, I couldn’t. I was freaking out as I couldn’t wrap my head around what had just happened to me. I felt myself change and painfully realized that I was in human form again. The ground looked suddenly closer as I fell back to Earth, luckily toward the river.

I landed in it with a resounding splash, and boy did that impact hurt. When I landed, it felt like doing a belly flop from a ten foot diving platform. I soon felt myself be carried away by the current. The soreness in my limbs from the impact prevented me from doing anything as I could hear the sounds of rapids quickly approach.

I kicked my legs to try to stay above the water, trying to stay afloat. It helped, but I could still feel myself coughing water up. I looked and could just make out the shapes of rocks ahead of me. I tried to move my arms, but it felt like they just wouldn’t work right. I couldn’t move very far against the current.

A few seconds later, I heard a resounding crunch as my left arm impacted against a rock. It felt like that I had broken something. That definitely wasn’t going to help me get out of this mess. The current kept pushing me downstream, and I felt myself get banged up even more as I crashed against more of the river rocks.

I couldn’t tell how much time was passing, but I did feel something soft underneath me that wasn’t exactly water. It felt more like dirt, but too wet to be dirt. I tried moving, but I collapsed under my own weight from exhaustion. Eventually, the whole world went dark on me.

----------------------

As I regained consciousness, I could feel the sand of the riverbank beneath me. It was wet and smelled like the lake. I tried to look up to see where I was, but my neck didn’t want to work at the moment. I opened my eyes, and blinked furiously when the sunlight shined through them.

It was daytime? How long had I been out? I tried moving my arms to get up, and hit the ground hard when my left arm gave out. My guess that it wasn’t working quite right after being smacked against the rock.

I coughed and sputtered, and spat out sand from the shore.

“What should we do?” a voice said.

“Hello?” I said weakly. It felt like it was taking all of my energy to stay awake.

I tried looking around, but I couldn’t see anyone nearby. Were they hiding in the woods for some reason?

“Grandfather, what shall we do with her? She’s a stranger to our land, and it looks like the river wasn’t very kind to her as well.”

‘That comment hurt a little,’ I thought. But, I probably did look like some kind of washed up animal that was thrown on the shore.

An older voice said, “We will take her to our encampment and nurse her back to health. She reminds me of someone, now that I see her up close.”

Up close? Were these people watching me from a distance too?

“Who?” the voice said.

‘That’s what I would like to know,’ I thought.

“That is for me to know, Castor,” the older voice sternly replied. “You and Pollux go grab her and let’s go. I will need to send a message to Lycaon.”

“As you wish, Grandfather,” answered another voice, that sounded similar to the first one.

“Wha… wha…,” I tried to get out, but my voice didn’t seem to carry very far.

I could feel someone, make that a couple of someones, pick me up and sling my arms over their shoulders. I felt my arms wince in pain. I tried talking again, but I couldn’t get anything out of my mouth. It just sounded like I was mumbling incoherently. Eventually, everything went dark as my eyes couldn’t stay open any longer.

Wherever they were taking me, it looked like I didn’t have any say in the matter. I just hoped Alex got away to safety, and that these guys weren’t in league with those who were pursuing me earlier.