You'll Learn to Love Me

Chapter 11: The Hunters Judge Laylana

"Wolves." Piper tensed up. "They sound close."

Jason rose to his feet first and summoned his sword. Leo and Gleeson got to their feet too, followed by Laylana who brandished her dagger tightly. Piper tried to get up as well, but fell back down before she could get to her feet.

"Stay there," Jason told her. "We'll protect you."

Just outside the firelight at the entrance of the cave, Laylana saw a pair of red eyes glowing in dark. More wolves edged into the firelight—black beasts bigger than Great Danes, with ice and snow caked on their fur. Their fangs gleamed, and their glowing red eyes looked disturbingly intelligent. The wolf in front was almost as tall as a horse, his mouth stained as if he'd just made a fresh kill. Jason stepped forward and said something in Latin.

The alpha wolf's fur stood up along his spine. One of his lieutenants tried to advance, but the alpha wolf snapped at his ear. Then all of the wolves backed into the dark.

"Dude, I gotta study Latin." Leo's hammer shook in his hand. Laylana inched slightly closer to him to try and ease his worries. "What'd you say, Jason?"

Hedge cursed. "Whatever it was, it wasn't enough. Look."

The wolves were coming back, but the alpha wolf wasn't with them. They didn't attack. They waited—at least a dozen now, in a rough semicircle just outside the firelight, blocking the cave exit.

The coach hefted his club. "Here's the plan. I'll kill them all, and you guys escape."

"Gleeson, they will tear you to fucking shreds." Laylana snapped at him.

"Nah, I'm good."

"You are impossible." 

Then the silhouette of a man came through the storm, wading through the wolf pack.

"Stick together," Jason said. "They respect a pack. And Hedge, no crazy stuff. We're not leaving you or anyone else behind."

The wolves parted, and the man stepped into the firelight. His hair was greasy and ragged, the color of fireplace soot, topped with a crown of what looked like finger bones. His robes were tattered fur—wolf, rabbit, raccoon, deer, and several others Piper couldn't identify. The furs didn't look cured, and from the smell, they weren't very fresh. His frame was lithe and muscular, like a distance runner's. But the most horrible thing was his face. His thin pale skin was pulled tight over his skull. His teeth were sharpened like fangs. His eyes glowed bright red like his wolves'—and they fixed on Jason with absolute hatred.

"Ecce," he said, "filli Romani."

"Speak English, wolf man!" Hedge bellowed.

The wolf man snarled. "Tell your faun to mind his tongue, son of Rome. Or he'll be my first snack."

"Faun?" Laylana furrowed her eyebrows. That was a Roman term, there were a lot of Roman terms being used since she met Jason.

The wolf man studied their little group. His nostrils twitched. "So it's true. A daughter of Aphrodite. A son of Hephaestus. A daughter of Erebus. A faun. And a child of Rome, of Lord Jupiter, no less. All together, without killing each other. How interesting."

"You were told about us?" Jason asked. "By whom?"

The man snarled—perhaps a laugh, perhaps a challenge. "Oh, we've been patrolling for you all across the west, demigod, hoping we'd be the first to find you. The giant king will reward me well when he rises. I am Lycaon, king of the wolves. And my pack is hungry."

The wolves snarled in the darkness. Laylana saw Leo put his hammer in one of the slots on his toolbelt, before slipping his hand into her free one. He mouthed a quick 'sorry' to her and showed her a glass bottle full of a clear liquid. Laylana knew what he was silently saying, and just nodded. Meanwhile, Lycaon glared at Jason's sword. He moved to each side as if looking for an opening, but Jason's blade moved with him.

"Leave," Jason ordered. "There's no food for you here."

"Unless you want tofu burgers," Leo offered.

"If I had my way," Lycaon bared his fangs, and said with regret, "I'd kill you first, son of Jupiter. Your father made me what I am. I was the powerful mortal king of Arcadia, with fifty fine sons, and Zeus slew them all with his lightning bolts."

"Ha," Coach Hedge said. "For good reason!"

Jason glanced over his shoulder. "Coach, you know this clown?"

"I do," Piper answered. "Lycaon invited Zeus to dinner. But the king wasn't sure it was really Zeus. So to test his powers, Lycaon tried to feed him human flesh. Zeus got outraged—"

"And killed my sons!" Lycaon howled. The wolves behind him howled too.

"Kind of deserved, like that's messed up." Leo was glad Laylana had seemed to start to go back to her old self, making jokes like that. 

"So Zeus turned him into a wolf," Piper said. "They call... they call werewolves lycanthropes, named after him, the first werewolf."

"The king of wolves," Coach Hedge finished. "An immortal, smelly, vicious mutt."

Lycaon growled. "I will tear you apart, faun!"

"Oh, you want some goat, buddy? 'Cause I'll give you goat."

"Stop it," Jason said. "Lycaon, you said you wanted to kill me first, but...?"

"Sadly, Child of Rome, and Daughter of Erebus, you are both spoken for. Since this one"—he waggled his claws at Piper—"has failed to kill you, you are to be delivered alive to the Wolf House. One of my compatriots has asked for the honor of killing you herself."

"Who?" Jason said.

The wolf king snickered. "Oh, a great admirer of yours. Apparently, you made quite an impression on her. She will take care of you soon enough, and really I cannot complain. Spilling your blood at the Wolf House should mark my new territory quite well. Lupa will think twice about challenging my pack."

Piper struggled to her feet behind them. Laylana resisted the urge to lunge for her to help her stand. She had a job to do, to protect her in case a fight broke out.

"You're going to leave now," Piper said, "before we destroy you."

She tried to put power into the words, but she was clearly too weak. She did not look very threatening to be honest. Lycaon's red eyes crinkled with humor. "A brave try, girl. I admire that. Perhaps I'll make your end quick. Only the son of Jupiter and daughter of Erebus are needed alive. The rest of you, I'm afraid, are dinner."

Jason took a step forward. "You're not killing anyone, wolf man. Not without going through me."

Lycaon howled and extended his claws. Jason slashed at him, but his golden sword passed straight through as if the wolf king wasn't there.

Lycaon laughed. "Gold, bronze, steel—none of these are any good against my wolves, son of Jupiter."

"Silver!" Piper cried. "Aren't werewolves hurt by silver?"

"We don't have any silver!" Jason said.

"Fuck," Laylana cursed a few more times under her breath. Her dagger was made of stygian iron, her other one that she lost was celestial bronze. Neither would have done her any good. 

Wolves leaped into the firelight. Gleeson charged forward with an elated "Woot!"

But Leo struck first. He squeezed Laylana's hand and threw his glass bottle and it shattered on the ground, splattering liquid all over the wolves—the unmistakable smell of gasoline. He shot a burst of fire at the puddle, and a wall of flames erupted. Laylana tensed, and focused on Leo's hand in hers to anchor herself and her panic. Wolves yelped and retreated. Several caught fire and had to run back into the snow. Even Lycaon looked uneasily at the barrier of flames now separating his wolves from the demigods.

"Aw, c'mon," Coach Hedge complained. "I can't hit them if they're way over there."

Every time a wolf came closer, Leo shot a new wave of fire from his hands, but each effort seemed to make him a little more tired, and the gasoline was already dying down.

"I can't summon any more gas!" Leo warned. Then his face turned red as Laylana snorted. "Wow, that came out wrong. I mean the burning kind. Gonna take the tool belt a while to recharge. What you got, man?"

"Nothing," Jason said. "Not even a weapon that works."

"Lightning?" Piper asked.

Jason concentrated, but nothing happened. "I think the snowstorm is interfering, or something."