Howling Fury (Book 1) (Being Edited)

Chapter 4

Yale's POV

I watch in horror as the girl who saved my life disappears under those horrible creatures. The things writhe around like a swarm of insects and I look away with my heart in my mouth. Something trickles down my cheek and I rub my face furiously. That poor girl. She saved my life and I didn't do a thing to save her. Couldn't do anything. Now she's dead and I'm trapped here like a pig in an abattoir.

I fall to my knees and drop my head into my hands. It was a smart plan to hide up here. I just can't understand why the girl attacked that beast. Something about her attitude and behaviours makes me think that she isn't human but I can't be sure. I guess I'll never know.

A thunderous roar has me jumping back to my feet and I peer down at the scene. This particular roar sounds different to the others; more powerful and full of rage. My jaw slackens as I watch events unfold. A huge black figure erupts from within the mass of creatures, it's clawed hands raking out and cutting down all of it's enemies.

I know exactly what it is. I have seen many videos of lycan on the news but never in real life. They say that they stand between five and seven feet tall but this one looks to be taller than that. It looks terrifying but beautiful. I find myself unable to look away from the sheer magnificence of it but at the same time my body is rigid with fear. I have no illusions about this creature. Should it choose to it can gut me like a fish with a single swipe of its powerful claws.

I watch in awe as one of the creatures move to jump onto the lycan's back. The lycan merely flicks it's wrist and the small creature goes flying, blood pouring from a trail of bloody claw marks trailing from it's mangled face right down its body. The giant creature; the one I now realise is responsible for dragging me down here, suddenly rears up behind the beautiful lycan with murder in it's eyes. "Look out!" I yell in a panic.

The lycan's head snaps up and its eyes meet mine before it spins around. Too late. The giant creatures teeth sink into the it's neck. A roar of rage and pain escapes from it's mouth and I cover my ears. The roar is so loud I feel like my eardrums are about to explode. After a few seconds there is silence. Well, as much silence as there can be when there is fighting going on just below you.

My attention is so focused on the fight that I almost don't notice the scraping sound to my right. It sounds like tiny claws scraping against metal. Turning, I catch sight of one of the smaller creatures slowly making it's way towards me. Fear grips me as the creature crawls ever closer and I wrinkle my nose at the sudden stench of rot and mould.

In the blink of an eye the creature is in front of me. It snaps its teeth excitedly like a hungry child in front of a buffet. Several cold eyes examine me and I see a small blue tongue drip from it's mouth.  I grip the knife the girl gave me in my hand so tightly that the hilt slips slightly in my sweat soaked hand. "Bring it on you ugly piece of crap."

It surges forward, taking me by surprise at the sheer speed of it. Before I can blink the creature latches itself onto my arm and I hear myself cry out. I bring my hand up to the creatures eye, knife in hand, hoping to push the knife right into it's brain. It collides right on target and sinks deep into the creature's socket. The smell of burning flesh encompasses my nose and the creature lets of a wail of pain. It releases my arm and I push myself away. I loose my grip on the knife and it remains lodges in the things eye.

The creature retreats a few paces and snarls while it tries to remove the blade. A sudden wave of weariness passes over my body and I want noting more than to curl up into a ball and fall asleep. I fight the feeling but a strange tingling begins to spread through my body. The creature manages to hook a clawed finger around the blade and it tears it out of its eye. I notice two others staring at me with a hate filled expression. Snarling, it leaps towards me with murder in its eyes.

Ester's POV

I feel like such an idiot. This isn't the first time that my arrogance has cause me to make a mistake. My senses are my keenest asset but I get too involved, I enjoy the blood-lust too much. Whenever I allow myself to indulge it always ends badly for me. In this case my hunger for the kill dulled my senses and allowed the queen to sneak up behind me. Now I'm trapped with the queens fangs in my neck and her claws in my back. All the other ghouls have backed off, allowing the queen to take the kill. How considerate of them and ironically not too dissimilar to the way the pack works. The rest of the pack always back off to allow the alpha the privilege of the kill.

I try clawing at the queen's face to make her release me but I can't reach her because of the position she has me trapped in. She has her massive arms wrapped around my chest and her claws digging into my back so I can't move without them digging in deeper.  I try moving anyway but it is no good. I'm trapped. If only I can get onto it's back. Then I can very easily kill the ugly beast.

I grit my teeth and decide to bite the bullet. Tensing my entire body I twist myself in a way that I wouldn't do unless desperate enough to do so. The claws dig deeper into my back but its head snaps as its jaw makes a horrible cracking sound. My shoulder makes a horrible snapping noise and white hot pain flares throughout my body. I continue to twist my body until the queen is unable to keep her grip on me. As soon as it releases me I spin around and grab its lower jaw. It looks as though it is already broken because it seems unable to close it but I ensure it will never be able to use it again. With a sharp jerk I tear the jaw clean off. Blood spurts over my fur and it rears back and away from me, all the while making sickening gagging sounds. 

It turns its back to me and I throw myself onto it. Before it can throw me off I drive my fist through it's flesh and grip its heart around my claws. I pull as hard as I can and my hand comes out with a squelching noise. The queen's body freezes before dropping to the ground, dead.

Slowly I stand, allowing the lump of meat in my hand to drop to the floor. I turn to meet the scared expressions of the remaining ghouls. I flatten my ears to my head, bare my teeth and allow a low growl erupt from my chest, daring any of them to attack. None of them move so I pull myself up to my full height and, ignoring the pain, let out an ear splitting roar.

The sound frightens the ghouls and they all scatter, leaving me alone in a matter of seconds. I sigh at their cowardice. Ghouls are nothing like wolves. Once a ghouls leader is dead their only concern is survival. Werewolves on the other hand will fight tooth and claw until the very end, no matter how slim the chance of success. 

My body drops slightly and I grunt in pain. My shoulder feels as though it is dislocated and I have to fix it before it begins to heal. I grip my arm with my other hand and before I can change my mind I push up. There is another pop and I growl in pain but it eases slightly as the bone corrects itself. At least now it will heal properly.

I look around and flex my now fixed arm. I think that's all of the ghoul gone so this town shouldn't be bothered again. They will be forced to find a new leader or make a nest of their own but a nest without a queen very rarely works. All of them tend to kill each other to be top dog. 

A scream of pain snaps me out of my train of thought. My head snaps up to where I left Yale and I just stare for a second. He is locked in combat with a ghoul and he isn't doing too badly. He manages to stab the ghoul in the eye with the blade I left him. He pulls away from it ad begins to sway slightly on his feet. I growl softly and begin to make my way up towards him. If the ghoul managed to break his skin with its claws then it could have poisoned him. The powerful poison can knock a man unconscious within minutes so that the ghoul can feed without interruption. I growl to myself for being so careless and allowing Yale to be in harms way. I only hope I reach him in time.