2 | Ghoul on the Loose (Part 2)

King watched the vampire and the werewolf, his eyes unblinking and mouth slightly hanging open. The werewolf stood on its muscular hind legs, inching towards the undead who was hunched down on the ground. It looked formidable, its aura powerful and intimidating. The vampire was the same, yet there was something different. Oddly different.

The bloodsucker's demonic face scrunched. It extended out its leathery wings, bloodshot eyes drilling a hole in the other. Then it screamed out a high-pitched roar. The werewolf bellowed in reply and struck, body slamming the vampire before it could stand back up on its raptorial feet.

The scene was bloodcurdling, claws driving through thick skin and two deadly bolting pairs of fang-rimmed jaws fighting for authority.

King grunted at the pain lining around his entire body, mostly on the wound inflicted on his leg. The vampire's claws were no banter; his flesh was wide open. Despite that, his supernatural genetic inspirited him. It can patch him up triple that a human's can. He didn't have to worry about it; he just had to worry for their lives instead.

King went rigid when someone planted a hand on his shoulder. It wasn't because Pandora gripped him unannounced, but because her hand was growing bigger, heavier, and shedding immensely like bits of sand. He turned his head, just in time to see Pandora shift into something he hadn't seen for so long. Her skin flaked and upsurged into a sleek pelt, followed by the spurt in height as she allowed her feline to take over and alter her into a female-built cheetah. Fully transformed, she ripped all her stretched clothes with sharp nails like it was a piece of paper.

King stared at the two humanoids beside him. He forgot that, yes, his cousins could turn into some large freakish jungle cats.

"Douglas," Pandora sent through the link. "Carry, King," she ordered, moving away. Odd for King, who couldn't shift, he could still hear them.

Pandora surveyed the two beasts brawling to death in the distance. She knew they needed to move quickly, or else if not, god have mercy on them.

"Hear that?" Douglas huffed. He plucked King up like he was a glaring barbie doll and carefully settled him on his nape. "Hold on tight, princess."

"Shut it, Doug," King barked. Even if he looked like he wanted to protest, he cooperated, grabbing ahold of Douglas's short mane. A fraction of him was digging it, the soft pelt.

Despite the attention-grabbing vendetta between the vampire and werewolf, the werecats decided not to linger any longer. But ere long they could escape, a bloodcurdling wail pulled their attention and heads back.

The maroon werewolf slammed the vampire on the ground. And when the latter attempted to arise, the other beast wrung its neck. A high-pitched roar screeched out of the vampire's wide mouth when the werewolf's razor claws drove through its weather-bitten skin. Retaliating, it used its talons and slashed through the werewolf's chest, which then led to a cracked hole for the vampire to break out of. Which it did.

The bloodsucker slammed its robust wings against the werewolf, causing the latter to lose its grip and stability. Immediately, the undead scrambled up, blasting a gust of wind from its ear-splitting scream. It extended its wings again and hastily flew away.

The vampire shot through the sky like a rocket. Meters up from the ground, it shrieked. Something had leaped from a tree's peak and caught its foot. The vamp could not adjust to the sudden load in time, so they crashed back to the ground.

King, Pandora, and Douglas suddenly perked up. The two shifters stood back to back when they felt presences erode around them, shuffling and moving from inside the forest, accompanied by the potent scent of wolves.

Another ghoul-like scream screeched out of the vampire, and the three partly turned their attention back to it, still holding their defense up.

The creature which had attacked the bloodsucker was another werewolf, whose pelt was a shade of silvery gray. It was broader, more robust, and alarming than the first one earlier. Besides it, more prowled in the forest's veil, lurking in the trees' shadows; these large humanoid wolves.

"Pandora?" Douglas swigged the repeating knots building in his throat. "I admit that I dislike hearing orders from you, but I sincerely would like to hear one now."

"Likewise," King said.

"What-"

The vampire swung its arm, aiming its razor talons through the werewolf that dragged it back to limbo. But its blows landed on thin air. It lunged again, and the werewolf evaded. Then again. And again. Bored from its petty offense, the werewolf struck next, hurling a powerful blow on the vampire's head. The vampire was thrown to the ground and wasn't even given a chance to react when the werewolf slammed it front-first on the dirt. A piercing shrill left its unnaturally gaping mouth when the werewolf ripped out its wing.

King felt nailed on his ground, left speechless and frozen. And so were Douglas and Pandora. The undead continued screaming, rusty blood showering its pale drought skin. Yet, it wouldn't stop. It hurled its leftover wing to strike back, but the werewolf easily restrained it.

The werewolf went for the final blow. It seized the vampire's head, pinning it. And then it bit down on its neck.

The bloodsucker went into a seizure, small noises, and yellowish spittle shooting out of its mouth as it unintelligibly clawed at the werewolf who refused to let its bite grip go. Bit by bit, its skin sank down to its bones. Then it crisped away before withering into a pile of dust that scattered with the breath of the wind.

Victorious howls vibrated all around the forest.

"Um... Pandora?" Douglas called out again, sensing foreboding trouble.

Pandora uttered a curse under her breath. These werewolves could or could not be rouges; they don't look one, she thought. They would be lucky if they weren't. But even if they weren't, there was no conviction that the werewolves aren't hostile even to them. However, Pandora knew one thing. She was not losing her family again, even if it cost her her life.

Now, freed away from the vampire strain, the silvery-gray werewolf closed its eyes. It took a slow whiff of the air, pinpointing the scent that had been hounding it since way earlier. It was an essence that so deeply thirsted him — Kain — down to his very core.

The werewolf growled, pushing out low vibrating grunts out of its buff chest as it uttered, "... Mate."