Lucie nodded. Sure, it hurt, but she was going to run out of here on her own two feet. She ignored the pain and followed the two vampires, who sprinted down a tunnel. The tunnel led to the ground above, and she welcomed the fresh air.
“Quickly, this way, so we don’t run into their guards,” Zach said, motioning with his head toward the tree line.
Lucie followed closely, having to push her werewolf strength forward to keep up with them. She glanced back for a moment. She was running in the wrong direction. Home was the other way. But she could sort that out later. Right now, escaping was most important.
“They went that way! Quick!”
Footsteps were closing in on them. With her wounded leg, she didn’t have a chance at outrunning them. She was going to have to turn and fight.
CHAPTER 7
Lucie didn’t know what type of people the vampires in front of her were, but she didn’t want them to risk getting caught on her behalf. The footsteps were getting closer, and whoever was chasing them would soon be upon them.
“I’ll hold them off. You two keep running,” Lucie yelled to the two vampires running just in front of her.
“No, just keep running. We’ll meet up with our comrades soon. They’ll be waiting for us. They can help!” Tonya quickly glanced back at Lucie.
“At this rate, they’ll catch us before we meet up with anyone. Don’t worry. I won’t go down without a fight.” Lucie suddenly stopped running. Dust lifted in the air as she turned to face her pursuers. She might have a hurt leg, but that would only prevent her from running. Fighting? That was something else entirely. She glanced back to see Zach and Tonya had also stopped running. “Hurry, you two! Don’t stop!”
Zach and Tonya both jogged back to Lucie’s side.
“We can’t let you risk your neck for us. I mean, what will everyone say if they find out a puppy fought on our behalf?” Zach said as he took his battle stance. He gave Lucie a crooked grin and winked at her.
Lucie shook her head. “You two should have kept running.”
“Don’t worry. We’re close to our friends. They’re on their way,” Tonya said as the footsteps racing toward them slowed.
Lucie watched as several dark figures stepped closer, dark elves and demons. She stretched her hands above her head. Tonya and Zach looked at her curiously.
“Always best to limber up.” Lucie smiled. “Looks like we have some sore losers still around after the war. Ah well, guess there’s only one way to remedy that.”
“I like this wolf,” Tonya said with a smile.
Lucie looked at the dark elves and demons. She was sure they had more tricks up their sleeves, like the liquid silver and vervain. However, she had a trick up her sleeve as well. She wasn’t a normal werewolf. She was a lycan, and a princess at that. Her wolf was bigger and stronger. A low growl ripped from her throat as her body began to change. Her large paws curled into the ground as she straightened her wolf up to its full stature. Her light fawn color shone in the night. Baring her fangs, she growled threateningly at her opponents.
“Have you ever seen a werewolf that large before?” Tonya whispered to Zach, who shook his head in awe.
Lucie took a step forward and waited as she studied the elves and demons. She looked them over carefully, trying to determine if they had anything on them that could be used as a weapon against her.
She had always wondered how it would feel to face off against a real threat. She wondered how she would react, if she would rise to the occasion. Now that the moment was here, it was asif instinct just took over. She played through her memories of all her sparring sessions and all her lessons. They all led to this moment.
The two demons focused intensely on Lucie while the elves shifted their attention to the two vampires. Lucie watched as the two dark-skinned creatures moved in her direction. The demons were large and bulky, with obsidian orbs for eyes, black claws, and yellow fangs. Demons were strong, but these were just regular demons. Creatures her mother easily took out in seconds. Her father had fought toe-to-toe against the son of an original demon and won, so these wouldn’t be a problem for her, at least not if they used their own strengths. It was the hidden tactics she was worried about.
They all attacked at the same time. The elves raced toward the vampires and the demons lunged at Lucie. Lucie swung her body around and collided with the side of one of the demons as she sank her fangs in the other. She latched onto his throat and clamped down forcefully, his blood dripping down her jaw and pooling onto the ground. It was the first time she’d had someone else’s blood in her mouth. She didn’t have time to sort out her feelings, though, because a sharp pain hit her from her side. and she yelped, dropping the lifeless demon from her mouth.
She moved back to see she’d been stabbed by another one of those objects with silver and vervain. She growled and lunged into the other demon, digging her claws into his side and gashing him open as she locked her jaw around his neck. She shook the body until she heard a loud snap and his body went limp. Then she heard another sound of a twig breaking. She lifted her head to see more bodies coming into view.
Her eyes widened as she took a step back. She looked over at Zach and Tonya, who had killed the dark elves that were after them. They were sacrificing them on purpose to see what they were up against. They didn’t have the element ofsurprise, since they’d watched them fight already. Lucie scoffed internally. There was more to her than what they had seen. You can’t combine so many magical creatures and not end up with offspring with special abilities and skills.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw an ogre leap toward Tonya. She planted her feet and pushed off, intercepting the ogre’s attack. Her shoulder was slashed open, and she yelped from the pain before she dove into him. She was honestly shocked to see an ogre. Most of those creatures had disappeared after the demon war. She had never seen one in person but had studied about all of the creatures. They even had samples of their scents so the wolves would be able to recognize them.
Lucie was slammed backward by the ogre’s monstrous strength. She quickly hopped back to her feet and bared her teeth at him, her fawn coat now covered in blood, her own oozing down her fur and dripping onto the ground below. Her wounds were not healing because of the vervain, and this was starting to become a problem. She didn’t want to have to do this, but she was running out of time. She was going to lose consciousness soon at this point. She backed up and took a protective stance in front of Tonya and Zach.
She inhaled deeply through her nose and shifted her claws in the ground below her. Staring at the various adversaries in front of her, she knew what she had to do. She only had enough strength to do this once, but once should be all she needed. Digging her back feet deeper into the ground to support her, she took one more deep breath through her nose. She then pushed out a blast of energy, like a sonic boom that beat into the creatures around them. The powerful wave shattered the bodies of the enemies in front of them.
Her strength was fading as she shifted back into her human form, fully clothed thanks to some troll nail clippings she’d been forced to take a while back. Both she and her clothes weresoaked in her own blood. Her hands trembled on the ground as her vision began to darken.
“We’ve got to get her out of here before more show up.” Zach reached down and lifted Lucie in his arms.
