The Darkness Within

13 - Demons and Pain

A day before the visiting pack members were scheduled to leave, Alpha Cyra with them, she managed to find some time to sit in the clearing and watch the pups play with Tala like they did every day. The snow was falling enough to hinder her sight but she could still somewhat see the trees around the clearing.

One of the older pups dressed in red, likely the age of ten, said something to the rest of them and they moved their adventures out of sight. Used to their adventures throughout the clearing and occasionally out of sight, she let them go. Children will be children and their joyful demeanor is one of the things she treasured the most.

She moved on to watching the swirling snow, attempting to find shapes in the ever-changing patterns. A cat, a tent, a gnome, an ocean wave. It was amusing for a bit, and felt a little childish of an action. She enjoyed it and appreciated the moments where she could act young instead of feeling the need to put up a tough front.

Sudden agonized screaming cut through the clearing and with sudden alertness, she recognized it came from the direction the pups had headed off to. All around the clearing, more shouts of anger and pain sounded, growls of wolves joining in, meaning that some force was attempting to attack the pack from all directions.

Without thinking twice, she set off as fast as possible through the snow towards her wolf and the seven pups of the pack. They were young, small, clumsy, uncoordinated, and vulnerable. The thought of anything harming the precious werewolf children she had come to adore had her ready to tear someone apart. Never had her rage felt so murderous and she was sure that whatever the threat was, was going to pay dearly.

When she found the pups, there were two men and a woman circling the pups with Tala standing guard above the huddling pups. Each of the attackers had liquid black hair and coal-black eyes that glimmered with familiar sadistic pleasure that made the rage bubble up higher within her. Before she knew it, her witch-forged blade was in her hand and she was ready to defend the innocent and pure pups.

She marched forward, prepared to attack the nearest threat only for the male to move out of the way too fast to be human, too fast to be werewolf. She noticed their bodies were thin and angled like the sculpture of the Dark Goddess in the tomb that they had been discovered a few weeks past. Because of the male's unpredicted movements, she ended up stumbling into the circle the attackers had created to survey the werewolf pups.

"Well, well, well," the male who had avoided her attack drawled. "The more the merrier, and this one's human too!"

This prompted a sick round of laughs from the three of them and Ciara raised her sword higher in challenge, Tala protecting the pups from the other side.

"Oh and look," the female teased, "she thinks she can fight us!"

"Do you know what we are, human?!" the second male called, his voice angry and threatening.

"We're demons, you mortal scum, and we're going to enjoy feasting on you," the first male's smile twisted into something sinister and sickly.

Sickening pops that sent nerves up Ciara's already shaking spine sounded throughout the clearing. She watched in terrified awe as huge dark-skinned wings like a bat's pulled from each of the demon's backs and onyx curled horns grew from their heads. The wings were threatening and terrifying to look at and only added to Ciara's fear.

The human girl knew that she was outmatched even with Tala's loyal help. But, refusing to allow children's purity to be harmed like her own had been, she stood her ground, hoping pack warriors got there in time to save the pups from that horrible fate.

The demons took a step forward and as they did so, liquid shadows that moved like ink in water poured from them, blocking out the wonderfully silver light that reflected off the snow. The demons approached and their shadows increased, blocking out the light entirely. The darkness made the pups whine in fear, the youngest of them even reverting to wolf form.