Arrival of the Prophecy, page 14
Henry nodded, never taking his eyes off of Sky, as she shook her head, still full from the fresh deer that she and Anthony had already enjoyed. But that information was something she was going to keep to herself. They talked more while Anthony took care of other things. Sky explained most of how she had become one of Anthony’s people. Only holding back the fact the she was infected against her will, letting him know that it was her choice, because she loved the Wolf King and wanted to be with him for the rest of her life. Henry found her story to be easier to understand than he ever thought he would. Yet, he still did not understand why—or how, his wife and step daughter had become so involved. Sky assured him that she too, had no idea, other than the wereboars having always had a strong anger toward the werewolves, and that it had to do with the power of fighting over the land.
By evening, Bonny was feeling better and wanted to spend time with the others, but said little in the way of what had happened to her during the time that she was with the boar pack. Every time someone mentioned them she would clear her throat and change the subject. Word was given by Carter that Tiffany was coming around from the first injection and asking for her mother, who was never given the message. Instead, Sky and Anthony went down to ask her a few questions of their own. Once they were in the lower levels, Tiffany was hollering out at the top of her lungs, yelling that they would all go to jail for holding her against her will.
“And what do you think would happen to you if they knew you were going to kill all of us?” Sky asked, showing herself in front of the bars.
“Stay the hell away from me!” Tiffany screamed, backing up as far as she could in the cave cell.
“We have a few things to ask you, and your answers will decide whether or not you remain in our prison,” Anthony said, stepping up behind Sky.
“This is entirely your fault,” she spat.
“How the hell is it his fault? No one told you to hook up with that pig boy,” Sky yelled back.
“He’s not a pig, you stupid bitch,” Tiffany retorted, spitting toward Sky.
“Really, how do you feel today, Tiff, got any new teeth in that big mouth of yours?”
“You’re crazy.”
“Maybe, but in a few days, maybe hours, you’ll be just like them, stinky and gross…all the things you hate,” Sky smiled.
“It’s all his fault for killing Dillan’s father,” Tiffany yelled pointing at Anthony.
“I did not kill his father. He died due to injuries he received after attacking my family. That is what we were told. That had nothing to do with me.”
“You lie. Dillan said you murdered half of his people, and you and Sky, were going to try and kill the rest, now that she is one of your…” she paused, “your dogs.”
Sky grabbed the bars and yanked as hard as he could, with Anthony placing both of his hands on her shoulders instantly calming her down. She watched Tiffany jump, pulling her knees in, fearful that Sky was going to come in after her.
“It seems that your Dillan has been doing a great deal of talking. I tell you that it has been you that has been lied to also, and now you will be the one to pay the price.” Then Anthony looked over at Carter, who was holding the dart gun.
“No, please, not again,” Tiffany cried, holding out one hand, when she saw the gun. “I’ll talk just don’t put that stuff in me again.”
“It is for your own good,” Anthony explained.
“No, let her talk. I want to know why she was so hard up that she felt she had to hurt me and my father, not to mention her own mother.” Sky said the last leaning into the bars.
“He’ll come for me and Parker, you know he will,” Tiffany smiled.
“He may come for his brother, but you were just a piece of meat to get to us…nothing more,” Anthony replied pulling Sky away from the bars. “When do the boar’s plan to attack my home?”
“Go to hell. He loves me and he will come, you’ll see.”
“Do your job Carter. She will tell us nothing,” Anthony ordered.
“He will come on the night of the full moon. But, he will not come for me no more than he will come for her,” Parker said, making his way to the cage door.
“He’ll kill you for telling them that, and I’ll make sure of it,” Tiffany proclaimed right before the dart stuck her in the upper back, causing her to scream out, making the same high pitch sound that all the wereboars made.
“Sounds like your change is already taking place little sister,” Sky laughed. “I can’t wait to see that pretty face take on its new and improved look.” Then she kicked out at the bars.
“Calm yourself. Think of the baby,” Anthony whispered next to her ear.
Parker spilled the beans that evening, so to speak. He told them that Dillan had planned on attacking the estate on the eve of his father’s death, the same way that his father had attack when he killed the Michelle king and queen, back when Anthony was a young boy. His plan had been for Timothy and Tory to take out Anthony, and let them in the front gate. Then they could finish the job placing Adella and her father’s corpse on the front gate, to show all the werewolves that this land no longer belonged to them, and that all who tried to cross would end up just like them. He also told them that Dillan wasn’t the main one behind the push to bring them down. It was the matriarch of his people, and that she was the one that planned on taking the head of the eldest woman in the wolf clan.
“Your mother?” Anthony asked.
“She is mad. Her mind slips every day, and all she sees is your destruction,” Parker admitted.
“Why tell me this now?”
“I am dead to them now. Even if they found me here in this cage, they would take my life. No one lives that has been captured, for their words are never to be trusted.”
“They would think you a spy?”
“Yes, so you see it is better that you end my life now, and let this pain that grows inside end. I would not go back if you freed me, even if they wish to greet me with open arms. I have taken all the abuse that I will ever take. I beg you as a fellow were…please, end this life now,” Parker pleaded, going down on one knee.
“You will not be put to death, young boar, but you will remain down here until this ends. We will see what happens after that,” Anthony replied, taking Sky by the arm.
Sky kept her eyes on the woman who was now dropping to her side, as her eyes fluttered shut, wanting to see her body change. They were half way up when someone came running up the stairs behind them. Carter caught up telling Anthony that Parker was ramming his head into the bars over and over and feared he would kill himself before the drug could take effect, and all three headed back down. They found Parker on wobbly legs, covered in his own blood from where his head was split open from one side of his forehead to the other. Carter opened the door and Anthony ran in right before the man could ram his head another time. “In time you will have a home with us, young one,” Anthony said, holding him until the drug took effect. He had made a statement that had never come from a werewolf to any other ‘were’ animal, but he was king, and things were no longer the ways of the past. The legacy was coming true, which meant a new world for all living creatures.
Chapter Fifteen
Dillan was crazed with anger when he found the women gone, and several of his men paid for the price with their own blood. He swung his huge head, piercing their flesh with his enormous tusk, splitting skin open and breaking bones. Three bodies lay dead on the ground before his mother stepped up in her animal form and knocked him to the ground with one swing of her hoven fist. She kicked at the dead bodies, then threw her head back screaming out, then bent down by her son, showing her teeth that dripped with saliva. Dillan snorted turning his head, waiting for her to finish him off, but instead she ran her two hoof type hands over his bristly hair.
“We do not need the women. Ready my men,” she said in a slurred tongue, then rose to her hind feet.
“Yes Harbra. You are correct, we do not need them.”
“Just as we do not need the ones they took from us. Your brother is lost now. They will all pay for his death, like they will pay for your fathers.” she claimed.
Harbra made her way over to their fallen men and threw her head back for the second time, and then she bent and began feeding on their flesh. Once she had her fill, she moved back and watched her son and his men move in, leaving nothing, not even the skulls of the three that Dillan had killed. It was the way of their people to waste nothing, not even their own dead. Harbra then told her son that the plans to attack had been changed from the night of the full moon, to two nights before, making the attack on the wolves two nights from the time she was speaking. Her reasons were because she had no trust in the ones that had been taken, not knowing whether or not they had been killed, or made to talk. Her youngest son had proven to be one of the weaker members of the pack, and one that she could not tolerate because of that fact. Harbra held a heart of stone and ran her pack with an iron fist. Those who chose to challenge her had all died in her wake of insanity, making her rule longer than any female before her.
Dillan was the first to come out of her womb, soon followed by his threesisters, then Parker and Daniel, ending with two other sisters. His mother had killed the first three females as soon as they came out of her body, raising the rest to serve her. Daniel died shortly after birth, too weak to fight for his place at her eight breasts, and never did she allow them to feed while she was in human form. Dillan’s two youngest sisters stayed close to their main land, hidden away from the rest of the pack, ready to reproduce other members at the order of their mother. Wereboar’s, unlike the wolves, gave birth to multiple children at one time. Harbra was the only one that choose who lived or died at the time that a life came into the pack. She was also the one that gave permission for one of her females to be impregnated, due to the fact that future challenges may come her way.
Males had no place in the upper ranks of the wereboar pack, and stayed in their own group until needed by their queen. They were given what Harbra called ‘broken women’, those who were fixed by the packs unorthodox doctor, so that they could not reproduce and keep the men sated in their sexual appetites without worry. She did this to ensure that they did not bring in outsiders, or impregnate one of her fruitful females. She was the one that ordered Dillan to use his charms on the wolf kings, bride’s sister, in hopes that it would bring on a war started by them. Harbra had no idea that Dillan had marked the girl and that she would soon be one of her kind. It was something that wouldn’t have mattered anyway because to her the girl, just like her youngest son, was as good as dead.
***
Anthony recalled the words of Parker, who told him how his mother had planned to split her men into four groups and surround the estate. He said he’d overheard them talking about using a different twist to flush everyone from the home and onto the open grounds, making them an easy target, but couldn’t tell Anthony what it was that she was going to do. Parker told Anthony it was then that Dillan had found him outside the tent and told him, that when the time came he would be able to prove himself and step up in the ranks of the males. That was how he and his companion ended up in the lower levels.
Sky looked in as Anthony pressed the shirt he’d removed to Parkers forehead, as Carter went up to tell Adella what had happened so that she could come down and sew the man’s flesh shut. Once Adella and Carter had the now unconscious Parker under control and halfway put back together, Anthony and Sky was ready to head upstairs once more.
Sky glancing in, noticed that Tiffany had fallen over on her stomach with her face to the side and legs spread wide, knocked smooth out from the drug that Carter had administrated. She smiled devilishly as she followed Anthony up the stairs that had torches coming to life and fading as they passed. She thought for just a moment what it would be like to witness Tiffany wearing rags and being used like a piece of meat, then the smiled faded away. Sky began feeling sorry for her stepsister, knowing that not even if she truly repented for the things she had done, no one could help her now.
Kayla was standing behind the couch that Bonny and Henry were sitting on, holding each other, watching over their every move like a well placed guard. When she saw them come in, she dropped to one knee, and then stood bowing her head. Sky smiled at her shaking her head, wishing that was the one rule she could change. Bonny, being in a calmer state of mind, saw Sky and started to stand. “No,” Sky said as she sat down beside her, taking her hand into hers. After a few seconds, she wrapped her other arm around her neck and gave her a warm hug.
“Thank you, sweetie,” Bonny said softly. “I can’t believe you’re making me a grandma, and at my age!” Then both women started laughing, as they pulled apart wiping at the liquid on their cheek.
“Yeah, but dad isn’t getting any younger,” Sky smiled looking over at her father.
“Hey now, I’m a very young old man,” he replied rubbing Bonny’s back.
“We will all make perfect grandparents,” Adella interjected standing at the door holding her medical bag. “You have a wonderful smile, Mrs. Delaney. It is good to see you use it.”
“Thank you. Please, call me Bonny.”
Anthony waited until later that night to fill in his enforcers and grandparents on what Parker had told him. Sky had taken her parents back to their room after supper, pretending that everything was alright, knowing that the wereboars could try and attack the very home they were in at any time.
Adella knew the way that Harbra thought, and decided to do some waiting of her own. After the family had retired she slipped out the back way. She ran down the stone steps that led out to the back garden and into the forest, throwing her black shawl over her head and shoulders. She stopped at the bottom of the hill at the ceremonial grounds, taking all of her clothes off, and then made her way to the top.
The werewolf elder threw her head back and howled three short bursts, then squatted down and waited. It was when she heard the return of Harbra’s call from across the valley that she stood and ran down into the circle of majestic stones. She stopped in the center as the wind blew her dark hair around her slender naked form, her legs slightly spread with her arms directly beside her. Her eyes grazed the outer rim, watching for her long time enemy to arrive and join her in the grips of those who fought their challenges here before them. Adella wasn’t surprised to see many figures appear beyond the other side of what strangers would call nothing more than a crater. Her kind knew it was the power of ones worth and blood line.
Harbra looked down on the woman, her enemy. Even though she hated her with the very fibre of her being, she admired her look of pride. She watched Adella hold her chest out darting her chin in the wind, offering herself to the enemy in a gallant show of bravery. Harbra’s people began to grunt and stomp their feet, looking up at her, and then tossing the earth’s debris into the air. All waited to see if she would take the challenge and go down in the face of the mighty forefathers they so hoped to claim. To some it was the night of true defiance against the remaining mother of the werewolves, and to others it was finally witnessing their leader taking more than a mouthy stand. The main one to provoke her, was none other than Dillan
“Kill her and it is all yours, mother,” he yelled spinning around on all fours. “She finds you weak.”
Harbra’s head spun around as her fist made contact with the woman to her right. She screamed a bloody squeal causing everyone to become silent. She jerked back around and pointed her finger down at Adella, then slammed her hand back down to her side, and began storming her way down, as those behind her went wild. Harbra stood at the edge of the stones feeling the power pulsate against her flesh as she began taking off the black tank top and cut off blue jean shorts. Harbra’s body was solid ripples from her round shoulders to her sharp waist, right down to the firm thick curve of her calves. Her hair was dark red, streaked with silver gray throughout, that draped over her shoulders and midway down her back.
“You think that if I take your life that it will all end here?” Harbra asked, pushing her hair from her face.
“What else do you want, Harbra? I know it has nothing to do with the land,” Adella replied, taking a few steps from the center.
“I just want your breed to die, no secret, we‘ve been cleaning you out all along the coast, and you will go down just like the rest. So tell me, what difference will it make if I kill you right now?”
“I think there are two ways to look at that, if you will ever find the nerve to step across the stones of my people,” Adella sarcastically said, raising her arms in the air, as the wind began to pick up.
“Oh yes. I have heard all the tales of when my father killed your family. I heard your husband died in agony,” Harbra’s said the last smiling, looking at Adella with as much evil as she could.
“Just think about the things that we’ve heard of your man, Harbra,” Adella replied simply smiling back, causing Harbra to become so angry that she took that first step.
Adella stepped back into the center, placing one foot behind her and the other slightly in front for balance. She turned her body away from Harbra then looked back, as Harbra dashed across the sandy plain straight at her. Adella spun around hitting Harbra in the back with her fist, as she swung her back leg forward, knocking her to the ground, face first. “I’ll kill you!” Harbra screamed, scrabbling to her feet. Adella wasted no time. She jumped on Harbra’s back, reaching around, pulling her head back as far as she could, then threw her own head forward and sank her two inch fangs into the soft flesh of her enemy’s throat ripping back and taking out the wind pipe. Adella pushed herself off of Harbra, kicking her to the ground watching as she grabbed for the piece of her flesh that was no longer there. Adella spit it on the ground in the direction of Harbra’s followers, then turned back to the woman beast that was now bleeding to death on the very ground that the wereboars had spilled her families blood.
