𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤

ninety-three

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃

"Here is another one," Josh said as he carried a tiny white pup in his arms. "Found it knocked out cold underneath a bench." He still felt amazed that the wolves from the Bayou had been forced to shift, even the little children. What kind of cold hearted evil bitch did something like that? Klaus's evil aunt, he knew.

"Put him there," Angelica pointed to the circle of salt in the middle of the living room. All the furniture had been moved to another room to give the witches space to work.

"Or her," Josh mumbled as he placed the white pup inside the circle. There were three other tiny wolves inside already, all unconscious. The witches were vicious when it came to fighting and protecting their own but they had mercy over the poor creatures who had turned by no fault of their own. Some of the more ruthless wolves didn't have such luck, as Josh himself had witness the way the Strix had handled them but for the most part, they were doing their best not to outright kill them.

"What?"

"Well, I can't really tell if they are male or female," Josh muttered as he contemplated the little ones. "You said he but it could very well be a she, you know."

Angelica gave him a strange look before shaking her head and kneeling on the floor to make another circle of salt. It wasn't just the smallest wolves that had been brought inside but the larger, angrier ones too. While many had been killed, plenty of others had been knocked unconscious and brought inside the compound so the witches could try and break the curse placed on them.

"You think you can break whatever spell turned them?" Josh wasn't particularly fond of the werewolves but he felt bad for them, the tiny pups specially.

"We are going to try," Angelica muttered as she handed the bowl with salt to another witch. Vincent had brought a good number of witches with him to help protect the city. The Strix had arrived just in time with an army of vampires and a coven of witches of their own, who specialized in dark magic. The leader Ariane, was working with some of the Treme witches on a counter curse to help the werewolves and the possessed vampires that had managed to survived. Even some of the French Quarter coven witches had ventured out to help. They didn't have magic so they were tending to the wounded or helping Father Kieran protect the humans inside St. Anne's church. All of New Orleans had in one way or another come together to protect the city from the attack. It was times like these, that reminded Josh that they could all get along and fight on the same side. New Orleans was their home and despite their differences, they were going to do their best to keep it safe.

"Have you seen Thierry?" Katie asked Josh. She was on the floor, tending to the arm of a teenage boy. He was from Fenrir's pack and despite his mother's protests he had decided to help during the attack. He was a brave one.

"Last I saw him, he was fighting two vamps." Josh shuddered. Most of the vampires that Dahlia had turned against them had been taken care of but there were still a handful of them left out there. The stunt Dahlia had pulled was definitely going to decimate the vampire and werewolf population.

"Better a vampire than a werewolf..." Katie muttered. Thierry was on a more even ground fighting against a vampire than a wolf whose venom could kill him. "There you go," she smiled to the boy.

"Thanks."

He stood up but Katie pushed him back down. "You're not going back out there," she said in a motherly voice. "You are going to stay here and rest."

"But I'm fine."

"The wolf that attacked you nearly ripped your arm off."

"It will heal," he protested.