Controlled Burn (BxB) (Werewolf)

Chapter 22: The Dusk

Callum heard a low rumble of thunder overhead. Oddly enough, he didn't recall any predictions of inclement weather from the local news station. Clouds rolled in with an unnatural quickness and obscured the stars in the night sky. Immediately, he concluded they were the work of the stranger who emerged from the Little Yggdrasil offspring in the backyard... an adversarial druid who knew his name and called him out personally.

With Callum focusing on keeping the werewolves at bay, Jason, Mateo, and Beau turned their attention to the stranger. They bared their sharp teeth and claws before approaching cautiously.

"Be careful!" Callum warned. "He's a druid!"

"Yeah, yeah, we can tell," Jason said as he walked to the side. Mateo moved in the opposite direction of Jason while Beau approached from the front.

"If he wants to get to you, he'll have to go through us first," Mateo added with a growl.

They acted in unison, a well-oiled machine. Together, they hunted as a pack and approached the enemy from three fronts, hoping to flank him and take him down from multiple angles.

Just as the three werewolves rushed the stranger, a bright blue flash of light filled the air. A split second later, a high-pressure wave of thunder crashed. The wave felt like a brief gust of wind and made the flames of Callum's fire circle dance wildly.

Callum looked back in time to see three separate arcs of blue lightning jumping off the masked druid's body and connecting with the werewolves. Jason, Mateo, and Beau's bodies convulsed uncontrollably and their skin burned due to electricity flowing through the bodies and grounding out from their feet. Inside, their organs also burned as the electrical energy passed through them.

When the electricity stopped, the trio collapsed to the ground. Their skin healed quickly from the electrical burns, but the three were still slow to rise to their feet. The electricity threw off their muscle coordination for a moment.

"Change of plans. Go help the boys," Bella ordered with her gun at the ready, finger on the trigger and pointed in the direction of the Texarkana werewolves.

"But I won't be able to focus on the fire," Callum protested. "If I don't feed the flames, they'll be able to get through."

"I've got this, Callum," Bella said confidently. "Trust me. Now go kill that druid."

Callum nodded and turned away from his circle of fire. Almost immediately, the intensity of the flames waned, losing some of its size, heat, and brightness. The flames were still too strong for the werewolves to walk through, but Callum knew it wouldn't stay that way for long. He turned his attention to the druid and hoped he could end things quickly so he could continue tending to the fire circle containing the Texarkana werewolves.

Rushing over to his Claiborne allies, Callum helped them stand as they shook off the lingering effects of their electrocution. Once they were on their feet, Callum turned his attention to the other druid

"You wanted me?" Callum called out with his arms outstretched. "Well, here I am. Callum Thorne, in the flesh. Who are you?"

The masked druid laughed. "Doesn't matter. A dead man can't remember a name."

Callum extended his arm with his palm open at the druid. A searing hot jet of green fire shot out at the enemy. Quick to respond, the masked druid raised his arms and summoned a wall of thorny brambles just in time to shield himself from the flames. Naturally, Callum's fire made quick work of the plants and burned them down to ash and smoke.

The masked druid stepped to the side and retaliated with an attack of his own. Razor sharp roots burst from the ground under Callum's feet. They pointed straight up and stabbed at Callum like daggers and swords. Luckily, Beau's advanced sense of hearing alerted him to the disturbance underneath Callum. He moved in with blistering speed and tackled Callum out of the way. The spike-like roots shot up to the sky, but they did not find their mark.