Tempest

41. Blood and Gore

Tempest knew immediately that the plan to incapacitate these attackers would not be fruitful. They were out to get blood and they would lose lives if they held back. They needed to fight with everything they had otherwise all would be lost. Their plan was in motion but until it was fully effected they needed to fight, and fight hard.

"Force field is in place around the kingdom," Aida told everyone.

Great. Phase Two, after the removal of the innocents, was done.

To her left she saw Ceres' men attacking the intruders. She could not see Galan but knew he was alright. Dean was a little further up, going toe to toe with a beast that probably outweighed him by fifty kilograms. That did not stop him for tearing into him, however.. Gritting her teeth, she attacked with Leon and Marc beside her. They rushed into the fray and that's when it got bloody. Strike after strike, punches, breaking bones, blood everywhere.

She moved fast, attacking cleanly and bringing them down as she raced through them, causing enough damage to those she fought to give the men behind her a fighting chance. Or so she thought. She fought like a fury, ripping into flesh and breaking bones. When she saw that it did not have as much of an impact as she had believed it would, she paused, uncertain.

"They are not slowing down," Tempest said. "It is almost as if they do not feel pain."

"We picked that up," Galan told her. "Aida, how far with Phase Three?"

"Iain has just arrived. He will use his air controlling abilities to distribute the antidote," Aida said. "Vivian will be here soon as well."

They all knew that there were a couple of problems with Phase Three. The first was that they were not sure that the antidote would work. The second unanswered question was, if it did work, after how long?

Iain was the fourth of the team and Vivian was the last. Iain had the power to control the air and Vivian's power was equally impressive. And deadly.

Tempest was not focused on the fight as much as she should have been and a fist caught her jaw. She grunted in pain and snarled. Extending her claws, she raked them down her attackers faced and kicked him in the stomach. He stumbled backwards and she went after him, breaking his neck and leaving him on the ground. A broken neck would not kill him, just incapacitate him until he healed. She moved on to the next one.

*

Dean fought like a man possessed. His movements were precise, however, just the way that Tempest had taught him, Leon and Marc over the years. He sliced, parried and went through the attackers quickly and efficiently. Ceres was not too far from him and he had to admit he was impressed with how cleanly she fought as well. He brought his opponent to his knees and kicked him in the back, breaking his spine.

He turned to his next attacker and that's when he saw her. Despite her mutated figure, he would have known her anywhere. His blood slowed down in his body as a cold fury filled his entire body. He gave a blood curdling roar as he saw what had been done to her.

He knew he could not reason with her. He could at least try to keep her from getting hurt by the others around him. He moved to stand in front of her and she immediately struck out at him. He moved quickly out of her way and pulled her arm, flipping her onto her back.

She got up quicker than he had thought she would and punched at him. He dodged her blows, listened to her growls and tried to keep one strike ahead of her.

"The antidote has been released." The words in his head were like a balm to his heated heart.

He growled as she punched him, having lost focus for a short moment. Acting quickly he grabbed her and ran. She was huge, almost as large as he was but he was not deterred. She fought him but he did not release her. Not until he had removed her from the main fighting areas. When he believed he was far enough he released her.

"Dean? I can't see you." Tempest said.

"I'm fine, Tempest. I found her. I found Cassey."

He heard her intake of breath and then he imagined her grinning like a loon as he dodged another blow from the furious woman in front of him.

"You found your mate?"

*

Tempest watched the fighting that was going on around her. Hearing that Dean had found his mate made her happy but she knew there was still a bucket load of crap waiting to meet the proverbial fan. She ducked under a blow aimed at her and then quickly attacked another mutant were ahead of her.

This was not working.

It was like trying to catch multiple air bubbles above a geyser. Futile. They just kept on coming and their attacks did not phase them at all. They could not stop them.

"How far from Phase 4, Aida?" Tempest asked. "Aida?"

"It's done, Tempest. It's not going to be pretty."

They had not expected it to.

Now, with the added pressure of having their attackers dial down their own attacks, it was getting critical. A lot of their fighters were down and it was only going to get worse.

As the portals started to open around them, they regrouped and moved to a central point. They stood in a circle and waited as the victims of Noah's madness encircled them.

The opening portal showed more of the mutated weres walking into the Lycan kingdom. The large, misshapen, muscled bodies kept coming. They filled the area around the group that had sworn to protect the innocents, with their lives if need be. Portal after portal opened up and they just kept coming, until there were close to two thousand of them in the area.

Then, finally they stopped. Their sheer numbers were daunting and, to be honest, incredibly scary. In their midst, King Tristan and his warriors, as well as the others like Tempest who had decided to fight for what was right, were sorely outnumbered.

It was like being a bunch of flies surrounded by toads in an enclosed room. No matter where they went a long tongue would be able to slip out and catch them. There was nowhere to go. There were just too many of them.

There was no way they could win this.

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Christmas Day in 2020

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