The Wolf In Me

Part 1 The carving

"How did you know we were planning against the vampires? And how did you find out our spot?" I asked Lylah that was in my office wearing a long white dress made out of pure silk, with a long thin necklace around her neck and a moonstone pendant that rested on her chest like most witches, which I never noticed she had before.

She lifted the watch I have lost the day I left in a hurry, in search of the thing in the photo my ex-boss gave me.

"This. You left it in your office the day you last came for work. I kept it safe for you just in case you came back. When I found out our boss fired you I put a locator spell on the watch in the hopes to find you and return it to its master. Instead, it showed me more than just images of your location. I found what you are and what you were planning to do. So here I am now."

Mei was listening to Lylah as she was sitting down on the sofa with her legs elongated sideways.

"I believe she could be a good asset, having a witch on our side is good," Mei said shrugging her shoulder that was resting on the arm of the sofa looking at Jake, dad, Malakai and myself.

"I know this lady decently well. She never even harmed a fly back when we worked together. I trust her. How do you plan on helping?"

She laughed and then stopped to smile. "I have everything you ask for in these pair of hands."

She paused for a second, "I can locate the vamps' spot, place a barrier spell around your area, give each of you more strength to fight, slow down the vampires' speed if you like. Anything that makes them more vulnerable. The luck is on your favour already since you are thousands more then they are," she explained.

I sat on the chair behind my desk carelessly and scratched my cheeks and beard trying to imagine it all in my head.

"Seems like a plan. What do you think dad? You seem to be quieter than usual."

Dad looked at me for a few seconds still wearing a worried look on his face. He inhaled strongly and stood up from his seat to get closer to my desk.

"Son, I am not sure if it is a good idea, to welcome a witch in our pack. Like she has said before, it is because of her kind that we are in such a mess."

I stood up from my seat and slammed my hand on the desk.

"Father! How dare you judge someone you have never met? Just because one is unfaithful doesn't mean that the rest of her kind are bad. You should apologise immediately for being impolite with a good friend of mine. She is trying to help. I trust her with my eyes closed."

I felt really upset seeing my dad not trusting on both Lylah and myself.

"I would never do something to harm my kind father," I growled getting more furious.

"You are right son. I am sorry, to both of you. I do have trust issues with witches, and that is because of what happened to me in the past and what we ate going through today. But if you offer your help to make us stronger, then, I don't see any harm in giving you a chance."

He smiled, nodding at both Lylah and myself.

He sat back down on a chair further away then he was sitting on before feeling ashamed.

"Well. I wish to secure this place for sure. These surroundings here most especially."

I moved my fingers around our area on the map to show her the full place.

"Can you locate the strongest point for me?" She asked.

She looked at me as I showed her my confused look.

"How should I know?" I asked.

I looked at Mei that was now approaching me.

"Close your eyes and extend your strong arm towards the map," Lylah said, moving closer to the map.

I did as I was told and I could hear Lylah chant in a low voice.

"Asai stand irr narmy fall fands caromi to e pla wha is e straless."

She repeated the chant for a few more times, then stopped. I opened my eyes slowly and looked at my finger pointing on a spot.

"Is that it?" I asked.

I looked down at my finger that was now pointing at a spot.

"Whose room is that?" She asked.

"Ours," Mei responded.

"Care to take me there?" Lylah asked.

"Sure," Mei answered, standing up from the sofa, moving towards the door.

We showed Lylah our way to the bedroom. It was just Mei, Lylah and myself.

"What are we doing here?" I asked curiously.

"Strengthening this packhouse, of course, preventing from having any bloodsucker entering your home."

She stopped looking at the surroundings in the room, touching some of the furniture like she is trying to feel its energy.

"There will be a bright light that resembles the rays of the sun and the vampires will not dare try to enter these premises. You will not see it, but it will blind the forbidden."

Her eyes rested on a photo of Mei and I smiling at the camera embracing each other. It was taken a couple of weeks after we gathered back the moonshine pack into the other smaller packhouse. She brought it down from the wall and turned it around.

"Here. This is the strongest spot."

She started to carve something at the back of it with her fingers whilst chanting in a low voice.

"Brine ligh win dhas hous, fi ach loom, ma tem brigh." She kept repeating it, then stopped and looked at it smiling.

I could see some light faintly coming out of the carving. It was the sign of the wolf howling at the moon.

"As long as the carving remains exposed, the vampires will not dare enter. Only the day walkers will ignore it, so make sure not to let them come into this room or they will break the spell."

I nodded and looked at Mei.

"We will make sure that we have enough guards to keep this room safe then," Mei nodded and smiled.

"Thank you Lylah," Mei said looking at her.

"Don't thank me yet. We still have so much more to do."

We started to walk back into the halls. Jake ordered everyone to gather there for the evening speech like we always do and they were all waiting for my arrival.

"Good evening fellow friends. As you already know from earlier we have a good witch on our side taking care that she would make our home safer and more impossible to have a surprise invasion of the unwanted guests. There are a few things I need to cover before I give her time to explain to you what she will do." I pointed my arms at Lylah and looked at each other

"Tomorrow will be the official day of the destruction of the vampires. No more fearing them. The forest is ours and we deserve to feel safe in our natural habitat as we run amongst the trees and feel the fresh soil beneath our feet."

Everyone started to shout "yeah!" "Amen to that" "wuuuuww" and other expressions that showed that they were being encouraged.

"Now, I will need four alphas to guard my bedroom door as it contains a valuable item that prevents the vampires from entering the premises. Daywalkers are unfortunately excluded from the spell so they will not be afraid to come inside, therefore we need to be cautious. Sure enough, they will try to break the spell so that every kind would be able to enter and invade. We will not allow that. Geordie, Yanick, Celine and Jeremy. Would you be able to be the ones who take care of this?" The four of them nodded in approval.

"Thank you. I will need fifty of you to be ready in wolf form guarding here, these halls to eliminate every possibility of day walkers to even manage to climb up the stairs. Jake, I need you to choose the right candidates for me. A hundred of you will be outside the entrance hall. Alpha Nina, will you be so kind as to choose them for me?" She nodded.

"Great. The rest will be scattered around the whole forest so we will not give any vampire the chance to escape. Now Lylah, if you must" I said moving aside for her to take my place.

"Greetings to you all. As you already know I am here to assist in the battle against our common enemies. As a witch, I have certain abilities to help change the future. I do it for a good cause in a more natural way than others. Only with your permission, I would like to bless you with better strength throughout the fight in the hopes to have better leverage over the vampires."

She waited for the packs' responses as they started chatting filling the silence with their voices mumbling. The alpha of each pack nodded for approval in the name of the omegas and betas. Lylah smiled at them for reassurance then closed her eyes and chanted, raising her arms wide. Her hair started to blow away from her face as her body was lifted from the ground. She started whispering, then she raised her voice enough for the last pack standing at the back could hear her.

"Brin tes fittiers e stren ey ne to brin teow e eneme."

The bulb lights in the room started to flicker and for a second, darkness took over, hearing the sound of the wind and the buzzing of electricity. Then silence filled the room and the lights turned back on, making everyone's eyes twitch. All the babies and very young children started to cry and their mothers were trying to calm them back down.

"You will all feel the power tomorrow as you lay eyes on your first vampire. May you have the blessing of the moon goddess, and may she blow the light of the moon on to you."

She smiled and looked at me. Knowing that it was my turn to talk again I moved forward.

"What else is better than to end the day with your bellies full? Dinner is served!"

Everyone clapped and then they started to head for the tables that were set in the usual place, the largest dining room I have ever seen. Mei, Lylah and I joined them as soon as the hall was empty.

Here is the link to my facebook fan page

https://www.facebook.com/rishanovel/