The Lycan Within

c. twenty two

Reminder: Ann (uh-nn) is Catori's dead mate who she only knew for a few days before his passing.

Thinking about it now, I was grateful for the night I'd spent with Sebastian a few days before. Irene had been training me as though my life depended on it, and he'd been putting off work because of meeting me. With the impending ball approaching, the other three lycans had all been busy making arrangements while I spent my days in the woods, training the beast within. 

I heard her before I saw her, the familiar sound of air splitting as she sped towards me had me throwing my arm above my head, her own forearm colliding with my outstretched hand, and I spun my wrist, grasping her bicep and bringing the weight of her body over my shoulder and slamming her into the ground with as much force as I could muster. She looked up at me with a smirk, although I didn't let her distract me, as my fist came crashing down, but with a giggle, she'd rolled out from under me and my fist had lodged itself deep within the earth. I snarled at the familiar throb of pain  but was quickly distracted as I found myself being flung through the air and my back rammed into the strong bark of a tall tree. I'd barely found myself on the ground before receiving a succession of blows to my ribcage, which had me doubling over, short of breath.

"Pain is temporary," Irene shouted, "Let it fuel you, not serve as a distraction," and her leg had raised, on it's way to my ribs and I snarled at the threat. Once more, I became a passenger in my mind as suddenly her ankle was in my grip. I applied pressure and twisted, before swinging her up into the trees as she had just done myself. I leapt up after her and we came tumbling to the ground and I made sure to land on top of her. I delivered strong blows to her ribs, and the beast within rumbled in victory as she'd raised her hands in surrender, her breaths coming short and seeming to bring pain to her with each one.

"You'd think that I've lived two thousand years and I'd be able to beat you," Irene wheezed, slowly bringing herself up into a sitting position, her breathing slowly stabilizing. "But it's like whenever the lycan inside you takes over, you're on another level, it's incredible," she said more to herself than to anyone else. 

"I don't know whether to be mildly terrified or aroused," came a voice, and immediately I beamed as I saw the three lycans  walking through the bramble of the forest, and I realized it was Benjamin who'd spoken, and as soon as he'd finished those words, Sebastian had snarled and leapt at Benjamin and the two tumbled around the forest floor.

"Not the face, you mongrel!" exclaimed Benjamin and I snickered, and Irene and Catori mirrored my actions. Sebastian had gotten up, offering Benjamin a hand and he struggled to conceal the smile. 

Sebastian's eyes found mine, and his tense shoulders relaxed and he'd slowly walked over to me, and a frown pulled at his lips as he took in my dishevelled appearance. I could only imagine the dried blood littering my face and the dark purple bruises littering my skin. He'd turned to Irene, I can imagine ready to complain but noted that her appearance was not very different from my own.

"It looks as if you've fared far better than she has," Sebastian said, his thumb stroking my chin as he so much loved to do.

"She could easily beat you or Benjamin," Irene said with confidence and pride swelled in my chest.

"Which is exactly why I called the two of you and Catori here," and suddenly, I'd began to feel cold as I'd turned to Catori who'd been standing with her arms folded behind her back and I took in her form. She was barefooted as both Irene and I had been and clad in form fitting excercise wear and I'd never been more afraid of Catori as I had been in this moment as her powerful legs took slow, even strides towards me. Sebastian had begun to glare at her, pulling my against his body protectively.

"Irene, no," he said, but the tone of finality in his voice was nothing compared to that of Irene's as she stood, straightening her back.

"I fought alongside the originals themselves, and if I say she can handle it, I know what I'm talking about," and Sebastian let me go, beginning to walk away from me and had exchanged a dark look with Catori as he'd passed her. Her nostrils flared and I cursed him, for giving her more reason to want to hurt me. I knew they'd promised they wouldn't hurt me, and that we were a team, but in that moment, the moment in which Catori had stood infront of me, her eyes never wavering from my own that I wasn't so sure. 

She'd rolled her head around and when she looked back at me, her eyes were pitch black, and thin wiry veins had began to litter her face, flowing down from her eyes like dark tears.

"Where I'm from, Catori means 'spirit'" she'd said, her voice unnervingly deep and with that, she disappeared. I was confused. I gulped, looking around me as Benjamin, Irene and Sebastian all watched intently from the sidelines. 

In the silence, came the ear-splitting crack of a tree as it fell and my head snapped in that direction, I focused all my attention there. It was too late, that I'd realized my fault. All I'd seen before the blow had been delivered to my head was the flurry of dark brown hair surrounding her head like a dark halo as the force had me slamming into the ground. I'd barely made it to the ground before a kick was delivered to my mid-section that had me flying into a nearby tree and wheezing as I landed in a crumpled mess. As I landed, my body erupted in pain as I took in a deep breath and I couldn't help the anger that had began to bubble up from my chest. I understood why she'd told me her name meant spirit. She attacked me with such intent, although it was almost as if she wasn't there, and it was only the pain exploding through my body that reminded me of her presence.

I slowly brought myself onto the pads of my feet, my hands digging into the ground as I once again became passenger in my mind. My lips were pulled back in a snarl and I closed my eyes, taking deep laboured breaths and simply listening. It took a few moments before I heard the familiar splitting of the air and without thinking, I launched myself towards it and our collision contested the loudest of thunderclaps. 

We came crashing down into the ground and for a moment, shock registered on Catori's face. The moment of distraction was all I needed as I dug my foot into her ankle and an ugly crack resonated through the air, I had managed to break her ankle and I snarled victoriously. She reached for my mid section, pressing her knees to my chest as her ankle cracked back into shape. She'd tried to fling me into a nearby tree. I had to think quickly, and instead pulled at her with my own strength, throwing her towards a nearby tree.  She growled violently and shifted mid air, shaking out her fur and pushing off the tree instead of colliding with it as I'd hoped. She turned around, speeding towards me and had leapt through the air. I quickly brought my feet above me and pushed at her incoming form as hard as I could and she sped over to me , and there was a wild look in her eyes as she came over me, her jaws snapping increasingly closer to my neck and I threw my hands above me, trying to push at me but her wolf strength was proving to be great. Suddenly, I didn't feel as though we were sparring and I began to see the hatred burning in her eyes. Her teeth grazed my jaw, slicing open the skin as her jaws snapped, saliva flying everywhere, and I heard Sebastian and Irene arguing in the distance as I struggled to push the wolf off of me and tears pricked my eyes. The taste of my blood seemed to renew her fervor and she pushed down even harder.

"Catori, stop!" I screamed although it were as if I'd said nothing and that's when my heart began to beat out of my chest.

"This can't have been the woman Ann had loved," I said, and she stilled above me and it was as if even the forest knew to remain silent. She looked down at me and disappeared into the forest once more like the spirit she was. I glanced over at the three lycans who held the same expression of shock on their faces, and I sped off after Catori.

____

Spoopy!! I don't have much to say really! I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, and thank you all for your book suggestions! I'm slowly going through them but so far so good!

I hope you liked the chapter, my fight description is somewhat lacking so I hope it wasn't as bad as I think it is!

Love you all, and have a pleasant day, me and mr gandy have a plane to the bahamas to catch! tbh im so bored with my life im quite close to just writing a david gandy x chantelle fanfiction of something. im such a loser lol, anyways!!

-mrs gandy xx