Heart of Stone (Part III)

III. Chapter 34 | Part 2 - Stone

In one swift motion, Stone reached up, caught the vampire in his huge claws, and threw her against the trunk of a tree.

Grunting upon impact, she tried to recover, but he slammed his foot against her chest, pinning her against the trunk, and tore her knife-wielding arms off with one quick pull. Before she could even scream in agony, he had her head in his claws and twisted it off.

Lowering his foot, the body slumped to the ground as he held the head by her long curly hair as it dripped with blood, before kicking it into the glen. It cracked against the rocks before rolling into the creek as he let out an ear-piercing roar of rage.

They will all die tonight! None of them will be spared!

Before he could take another step, the shape that previously blurred in the corner of his eye returned in his peripheral vision to his left.

Stepping back a split-second before the vampire collided with him, the vampire swerved and ducked behind Stone instead and pushed him forward, out into the open before he disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Acting on instinct, Stone tucked his head and knees together and rolled out onto the grass before jumping to all four paws. Snarling, he looked around the narrow glen, ears taking in every flicker of sound, and nose inhaling every minuscule particle in the air.

A shallow, five-foot-wide creek bubbling over rocks wound through the almond-shaped glen surrounded by large shagbark hickory trees. The shagbark hickories were ominous in nature. The thick bark peeling away from the trunks, like serpent tails or demon claws, were the trees pictured by children reading scary folk tales of monsters lurking in the woods.

Stone could sense the monsters lurking high within those treetops, hidden behind leaves and branches, watching, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

Darkness was his companion. The stars, his witnesses.

Blood would bathe the glen and the creek would cleanse his hands free of their evil.

One, two, like ripe apples falling from trees, the pair hit the earth with a thud. At ten and two o'clock, the duo advanced toward him. A flicker of starlight against a long, thin blade in both sets of hands.

His nostrils flared as his eyes swept to the left and right. Surrounded at all fronts.

Glancing a few feet ahead at the skull of the vampire he'd killed, Stone snarled at himself.

How could he have been so foolish?

Muscles rippling underneath his coat, he stood on his hind legs, extending to his full height as he let out a feral growl of challenge.

There was nowhere to run. Even if he could outrun them, as soon as he tried breaking through the line and slowed down, he'd be swarmed.

[I'm surrounded,] he sent out into the pack mind-link. [Hurry.]

As the pair approached the creek that separated them, Stone crouched down, ready to pounce, pivot, or lunge if necessary.

The faint metallic zing of silver wafted up his nostrils. He could smell traces of it all around him. Did every one of his opponents carry a silver weapon? How many of them were there? How long could he last against a skilled fighter until back-up arrived?

Gunner wasn't the fastest member of their pack and the werewolves did not possess the same speed as lycans. At top speed, it could take him five minutes to get there from the border, and the werewolves another few minutes after that. Depending on how close Alistair was, he could be a few minutes away. Gwen was the farthest.