Shadow Gun Arc: Three

[⚠️ Suspicious Content] Eight hours-they had walked eight hours. Of course there were cars but Nadia was an ancient land and many of the roads were made very narrow. It was difficult for cars to get through so most people either walked or cycled to one place or another, or took the tram. Some people will rent cars when going from village to village, town to town, city to city. Shadow didn't have a car nor did he feel like paying to rent one or to share one. He was fine walking. Sous; on the other hand, wasn't but after four hours of acting like a demon, she settled down. Then again, that was probably only because she was getting tired. 

They walked hand in hand with Shadow looking down on her every so often. He watched her struggle to keep her eyes open and gave her a little weak child. He guessed this was the closet he would get to experiencing being a parent. And you know…it wasn't so bad. 

They had packed accordingly; Sous had her backpack which contained a couple of clothes, her new spell books, and her new training wand. She had given Shadow the biggest hug when she got that hug. Shadow pretended to not like it, to try and push her off but he liked it. 

And here they were. They had made it to Clarence's village. After Clarence had visited him a couple of weeks ago, he made a call inquiring if Shadow could come help the village and the problem they were having with the Apex wolves who were coming across the border. Clarence didn't know about Monica but he did know Shadow had an informant in Red Woods who might shed light on why the wolves were targeting his village. 

Two vampires stood at the entrance of the village which was gated. Clarence had mentioned the wolves they had hired to guard the village had been killed. Vampires were all he had but hopefully they at least knew some spells even if they were basic. 

Shadow nodded his head at the two vampires-them watching him and seeing his weapons he had strapped to him. He walked inside the village, it being night, the town was lively and filled with energy. 

Sous rubbed her eyes and looked at the scenery, remaining quiet as she continued to walk with her new guardian. They were walking to a castle far off. 

"Tsk, vampires and their castles." Shadow huffed. He shook Sous' hand. "Sous, do you want something to eat?" 

She rubbed her eyes. "Hmm…not really."

"What about something to drink, like blood? Ya know, this village has some of the rarest blood types in all of Nadia."

"Ewww!" Sous whined. 

Shadow laughed with the two of them continuing on to the castle where Clarence lived with his wife and children. They entered and were greeted by the butler who offered the two of them tea cups of blood. Shadow happily took the blood and then sat the tea cup down. 

"Hey so, you got sum beer?"

Sous laid asleep in her bed; her books sprawled out on the desk she would be studying at for the coming days to keep her busy as Shadow attempted to assist with the wolf problem. Below in the dining area of the castle where the artificial light shined, Shadow sat on a red couch with a coffee table in front of him and where another couch sat with Clarence on it. His wife was in the garden reading a book while his children were at school.

Clarence started the conversation after sipping some blood. "What has your informant said?"

Shadow cleared his throat, nodding his gratitude to the butler who brought him a mug of beer. He took a gulp and sighed, relaxing his legs a bit. "The Apex wolves are assholes but apparently only attack when they hunt. Betrayers-individuals or entities who have betrayed the Apex pack one or another." Shadow paused, taking another sip of his beer. "Who here in your clan, in your village had interactions with the pack?"

"We have no reason to interact with wolves."

Shadow nodded. "Ideally, but are there any-what they would call-mutts here? Ya know, like Sous?" 

Clarence thought for a second and then closed his eyes, leaning on his cane. He looked at Shadow. "A couple of years ago, a friend of mine brought a family from that region. A wolf and an elf. They had their first child early this year." 

"Welp, Clarence, there's your reason-"

"I will request for them to go somewhere else."

Shadow snapped his head to Clarence. 

"I can not risk the safety of my clan for a wolf and an elf." 

Sous laid in bed with her eyes open. It was hard to sleep with all that racket going outside even if she was high up in the castle; her ears were sensitive. She could hear the sound of a roach crawling, that's how sensitive her ears were and her nose-

She took a breath and exhaled. Her face made an odd expression as if she were confused. She took in another breath and exhaled. There it was, that smell. 

Sous leaned up in her bed and looked toward the window. There was a wolf in this village. Just one. She could smell him. Her feet landed on the blue-gray marble floors and she walked toward, opening it. She looked out trying to see if she could spot the wolf but she couldn't. With sleep winning the battle over her eyes, she yawned, and went back to her bed. She awoke again but this time it was around six in the morning, around dawn. It was quiet as the sun was coming up and she smelt it. More than one wolf. They were here. Her body was reacting to her: breathing hard and heavy, her eyes going from one direction to the other, her ears flicking. She looked at her desk and got her wand. 

Her claws extracted and landed on the wall of the building, helping her slide down the castle walls toward the ground. She wasn't thinking; she was just doing because if she were thinking, she wouldn't be putting herself in danger. 

She followed her nose, where she smelt the scent, she turned in the direction of it. She weaved in and out of the houses, she weaved in and out of the businesses. There was one goal and that goal was to get to the location where she smelt it. When she didn't think she was going far enough, she used her claws to climb on the roofs of the buildings and began to run, not realizing how fast she had gotten since her days in Red Woods. She hadn't realized how bold she had become since those days but she made a promise back then that she would no longer be weak. 

There they were! They were the wolves on the roofs and the ground just like how she was on the roofs. They were going to a house and Sous could smell the fear of the Alpha. It brought back memories of Sous getting her arm cut off, crying for her parents-

Those thoughts just made her angry. 

"HEY! LEAVE THEM ALONE!" 

Stupid move. 

The wolves turned to her. They just had a newborn baby. It wasn't fair. Sous got her wish: the wolves charged. She got in fighting stance that Shadow had taught her, her wand in her left hand. She threw her arm up but was snatched off the building. Shadow growled at her and pulled his shotgun off her back and shot the first wolf to pounce. The bullets exploded in its head. Shadow landed on the ground bent, Sous under his left arm. 

"What the fuck, Sous?!" 

He got up and started running. Normally, it was no problem for him to take down this many wolves; he did it often on his work shifts but this was the first time he had to carry a child under his arm. Finally, he threw Sous up in the air and jumped into the air as well. He twisted and turned midway, using his shotgun to shoot two more wolves. He landed on the ground, catching Sous. He snatched her training wand and pointed it at the wolf coming at him. 

"Gladius!" He shouted. The wand quickly transformed into a sword and stabbed the wolf in the neck. He pulled the sword out and with one of his glocks, shot the wolf with a silver bullet. "Get back to the castle. I'll take care of this."

"The baby! I can smell a baby." Now that she was nearby, she could smell the wolf, the Alpha, and the baby. She ran toward the house and tripped over the door that was off its hinge. When she landed on the floor, she became covered in a warm sticky liquid, and she knew immediately what it was. "Blood." 

She got to her feet and ran around the small house, coming to a staircase. When she checked the rooms, she managed to find the decapitated bodies of the adults in the master bedroom. Their heads off their bodies. A blood bath all over the house. 

Sous ran out of that room and went to the nursery where she saw the baby in the arms of a wolf. The wolf looked at her while it slowly grinned from ear to ear. It hung the baby upside down by one foot. The wolf tilted it's head back and opened its mouth wide-

"Ignis!" She screamed but then she realized she didn't have her wand. Shadow still had it. 

The blood spilled from the wolf's lips, drooling all the way down its chest, its legs, onto the floor, getting in between its toes. 

"AAAAHHH!" Sous charged at the wolf until she was pulled back by Shadow who shot the wolf. 

The wolf fell to the ground but slowly began to rise. 

"What?" Shadow murmured. 

"The wolf is not all wolf!" Sous screamed. That was the only reason why a silver bullet wouldn't kill a werewolf: if it wasn't all wolf. 

Shadow looked at the wolf and at Sous. "Shit!" He picked Sous up and ran out of the house, needing to get to higher ground. He jumped onto the roof of a house when he managed to get outside with Sous still in his arms. He pointed the wand at the house, setting it on fire. That wasn't enough though as both him and Sous saw the wolf now on fire walking out of the rubble. 

Sous was left on the roof while Shadow jumped down; the wand in his hand was transformed back into a sword. It seemed his guns wouldn't win this fight since the wolf was immune to silver bullets. 

"Alright pal, it's just you and me. And Sous!" He turned to look up at her. "Stay the fuck out of it and stay the fuck there!"