Nightclaw: Blood Moon Apex

Chapter 36: Yielding To Authority

Remus peeked his head down the hole that Nightclaw and Vultur fell through on their way to the temple basement. As he moved his eyes across the winding, confusing stone passages, hoping that Nightclaw hadn't met her end at Vultur's hands, he soon found, to his relief, that it was quite the other way around.

Well done, the alpha commended as he hopped down the hole himself, approached both Nightclaw and Vultur's corpse, and clapped his paws. And there was me thinking you would need help.

Nightclaw smiled. Please. No one can stop me when I'm on a rampage. Besides, it just felt fitting that I took her out.....now I can have some closure. If anything, I was worried about leaving you to deal with that "stray cat" of hers.

He was a total pushover, Remus clarified, snickering internally at Nightclaw's joke. He was too angry to think rationally, and it led to his downfall. That could apply to a lot of people nowadays, actually.

The female werewolf bobbed her head in agreement. Yes. Well.....should we return to the surface? There's still one more thing we need to do.

Of course.

The alpha then leapt back up the hole and extended an arm towards Nightclaw to help her back up. Then, the two of them left the temple and returned to the battlefield.

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The area surrounding the building was littered with fallen C.L.A.W shamans. Some were just dead, some were utterly pulverized, and some were simply unconscious. The three bears whom Vultur had summoned as backup had also been killed, becoming nothing but lifeless piles of fur hides on the overgrown grass, ready to be harvested for resources.

The Rosenbloods' rental car had been completely totaled as a result of Esther's collision with the bear, but Valeria's pickup truck and Brian's rental car were still standing; additionally, Brian was already cleaning up the ghost catcher and loading it back into his vehicle after the device had successfully served its purpose.

As Valeria and Brian looked on from their vehicles---and Jet, Percy, and Boris II watched closely with the whole Order of Blood at their backs---Esther forcibly restrained General Urs by holding both of the Bear Avatar's arms behind his back; right next to him, Lily and Theo were doing something similar to General Peşte. The two remaining C.L.A.W leaders could only watch as Nightclaw aggressively walked towards them with Remus backing her up, with the female werewolf only stopping once they were practically inches away from each other.

"W.....What happens now.....?" Peşte asked fearfully.

Yield, Nightclaw commanded. Vultur and Râsul are dead; you both are in command now.

Urs blinked. ".....What?"

Yield, the werewolf repeated more firmly. You are to return to your underground complex and promise to never attempt to attack the surface world again. In exchange, the Order will protect your forests and the animals within them. We good?

Peşte nodded eagerly, though one might have assumed she was doing so out of genuine terror rather than actual concession. She had already seen how Nightclaw's party had killed two of their shamans back at Vultur's Cave.....and now Nightclaw herself had murdered one of the other Generals. She was rightfully worried about how much more damage the werewolf could do to her and the rest of the C.L.A.W if she was ever messed with again.

Vultur had meant to use Murray and Dave's deaths as warnings towards the Order and their allies.....only for Nightclaw to, in turn, use Vultur and Râsul's deaths as warnings towards the C.L.A.W.