Chapter 4

I squeezed the trigger on my handgun the moment the tramp in front of me moved. I was nimble, but the guy was much faster. Inhumanely so. Tried as I might to keep up with him, shooting at him, but my bullets were at least a millisecond slower, thus only hitting air and the soil surrounding us. When I had emptied my barrel, I knew it was futile to resist, so I closed my eyes, expecting a painful death that never came.

There was growling, groaning, and scuffling behind me, like dogs fighting to the death. I opened my eyes, spun around, and took several steps back. On the ground, the guy was grappling with someone or something. It was thin, lanky, and dark. The head looked like a sickly, fur-less dog. My eyes widened in alarm as I realized, with the help of the large white moon, that it was a werewolf. I became acutely aware of my surroundings. I could hear growling and snarling from everywhere. The darkness of the Pass concealed them, but I knew we were surrounded.

Hearing a pained yelp, I turned to face the stranger and the werewolf. The man held the creature by the neck and decapitated it with his bare hands in quick movements. One monster howled, and the others soon followed. The sound terrified me to the core, and the hair on my nape stood on end. I could hear sadness in it too, but the rage and hatred overpowered it. This was new to me. I did not know these vile creatures could feel sadness. But I brushed it off as anthropomorphizing the werewolves. They were human, sure, but not tonight. Not when they’re in this form. With shaking hands, I quickly reloaded my weapon and started shooting blindly. I knew I had hit my marks because of the yelping and the howling. However, what I did only angered the freaks. The growls were deafening as they approached.

“Get inside,” the stranger demanded, leaving me perplexed and rooted on the spot.

“You can talk?” I did not know why I said that, and why I was already moving to obey him. I felt stupid.

A werewolf jumped towards me, but the guy blocked it, tossing it away. “Yes! Get your ass in that carriage, now!”

I dashed towards my carriage as another werewolf lunged at me. The stranger blocked the creature once more, this time by thrusting his hand through the creature’s body. He then let go of it, its heart still warm and beating in his hand. I got in the vehicle without a scratch, locking the doors. Thank the Rozen Maiden, my carriage was like a fortress. We made it from the hardest metal alloy in Terran, the windows from a glass-like sturdier material than diamonds. Becca and my stepmother were still unconscious, but they seemed all right to me. I inched towards the window and watched as the stranger growled angrily. He clawed at his skin as he grew rapidly and significantly taller. He was still humanoid in appearance and stood upright, but dark gray fur completely covered his skin. I couldn’t see clearly, but I guessed that his head had also transformed into a wolf’s. I saw him claw at his face, discarding a large patch of skin.

The werewolves howled again, powerful and more spine-chilling than last time. I put a hand over my mouth to stop myself from breathing loudly lest it attract his attention. He was nothing like the werewolves who had attacked him. His movements were precise and skilled, in contrast to the creatures who charged ferociously and without rhyme or reason. He was killing them one by one, an immense pile already forming at his feet.

A few seconds later, the attacks stopped, and I had to press my face in the glass to see what was happening. The werewolves were about to attack the guy, but for some reason they stopped to look behind them, then started whimpering, their heads and ears down, as if afraid. Pitch black darkness engulfed Lupine Pass as a cloud obscured the large, white moon. Perspiration dotted my forehead. I clenched my fists, straining my eyes to see in the dark. When the cloud slowly dissipated, that was when I saw it. From the shadows of Lupine Pass, enormous red eyes appeared. And ever so slowly, a coal-black wolf emerged. It was almost as large as my carriage, towering over the werewolves. No wonder they were afraid. It was snarling and barking, saliva flying everywhere, its sharp teeth bared.

My heart sank. I felt nauseous as the air became thicker, as if I were breathing sulfur and molasses. Like if you tried, you could cut it with a knife. The monstrous wolf radiated pure evil. I could sense it, almost taste it.

“You,” a dark voice said, making me tremble. It was coming from the demonic wolf. “One of us.”

“No.” The vagrant shed his fur and shifted back to his human form. I was glad he’s still coherent and in control of his faculties. I wonder what kind of werewolf he was? “I’m not like you.”

The wolf growled, its evil red eyes glowing in contempt. “I am…”

A cloud came over the moon again.

“… One of you.” The ominous voice was even more daunting in the dark. “Lycan.”

“You’re a Behekoa,” I heard the guy say. He did not even flinch when the wolf roared again. He was fearless. “A creature most foul. You were the one who turned these poor people, weren’t you? Passing on your curse to innocent people. I’ve been looking for you for so long...”

I let out a bloodcurdling scream. When the cloud dispersed for the second time, I saw a werewolf in front of me, inches away from my face. I backed away from the glass as far as I could, even though I was still inside the carriage and the creature was still outside. I reached for the box of bullets, but it was empty. After that, the carriage started moving. A swarm of werewolves were jostling the carriage, scratching and growling and snarling. My scream had awakened the two women with me. They started squealing when they realized monsters surrounded us.

“What is happening?” Helena exclaimed, getting up and cramming herself beside me.

“Is that our coachman?” Becca blurted out, pointing at the werewolf snarling at us outside the window. I opened my eyes to look and, sure enough, I recognized him from before, even though he now had the face of an ugly, balding dog. His clothes were ripped and covered in blood, but the Rozenberg colors and insignia were still recognizable. 

“You poor, poor man.” The queen reached out to touch the glass, but it made the werewolf coachman snarl at us like crazy. Helena cowered back at my side. “Your poor family...”

I couldn't care less about this monster’s family right then. What mattered was our survival. My survival, most of all. If it came to that, I’d have no problem using these two as bait to escape.

Just then, my ear picked up a noise that sounded like a fabric being ripped apart. There were also sounds of howling and yelping, as if they were in pain, and the beasts surrounding the carriage disappeared one by one. I heard snapping sounds from the vehicle’s roof.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

“Rain?” Becca asked, confused. I had heard of that sound before but I couldn’t place it.

A few minutes later, I heard a voice booming from a megaphone.

“Princess Selina? Are you there?”

I moved to look out of the window, but my stepmother grabbed my arm and then pulled the curtains closed. “What if it’s a trap?”

“I can hear a helicopter,” I said, annoyed. “Henry has to be here to save me.”

“But—”

A loud knock from the window stopped us from our budding argument, and when I pulled the curtains, I saw a man wearing a white helmet outside the carriage.

“Is everyone all right?” he asked. “Is Princess Selina with you?”

I leaned forward. “Are you here to rescue us?” My stepmother’s apprehension was rubbing off me. I couldn’t fault her, though.

“Yes. My name is Mitchell.” He pulled out a leather wallet from his pocket and showed us his badge with the Volfenheim Coat of Arms. “His Majesty asked us to find you.”

“I am Selina,” I admitted. “Queen Helena and Lady Eibisch are with me.”

Mitchell motioned to someone we couldn’t see outside our ‘fortress’ before turning back to us. “Are any of you hurt?”

I looked at my stepmother and Becca, and both of them shook their heads. “No. There are werewolves out there. And a giant beast. Is it safe to go out? We have a pregnant passenger here.”

“Yes, they’re all dead, but we must move quickly, Your Royal Highness.”

“Why, what’s out there?” Becca asked, looking out of the window.

“At the moment, nothing, Your Grace,” Mitchell admitted. He looked at me, and I saw fear in his eyes. “However, we don’t know if the rogues will return. We really must go now, ma’am.”

I unlocked the carriage door, but was still cautious of our surroundings. A while ago, I just saw a guy shift from man to wolf to man again within minutes. Who’s to say that Mitchell wasn’t one of them? I stepped out of the carriage, holding my gun in plain sight to deter anyone from messing with us. It doesn’t have any bullets left, but it definitely sends a message.

It shocked us when we stepped out of our vehicle and saw corpses everywhere. The werewolves who had been terrorizing us only moments before lay dead on the ground. There was smoke coming out of their bodies, which meant the ‘rain’ we heard before were silver bullets being fired from the sky. I saw two or three extra helicopters and a few terrain jeeps not far away from us. Aside from Mitchell, there were now a bunch of other people wearing familiar gray military uniforms. They were sweeping the area, poking the bodies with their big guns, making sure the dead stayed dead.

“They’re Volfenheim’s border patrol, weren’t they?” Becca said to no one in particular. Everyone knew who those people were. I scoffed at her before following Mitchell to his helicopter.

Becca and I had to navigate through the bodies to get to the vehicle, which was only a few feet away from our wrecked one. When we entered, another pilot greeted us and handed us our headsets to help drown out the whirring sound of the rotor blades. Two women soldiers helped the pregnant queen to cross the short distance and to board the helicopter. I looked out the window, staring into the darkness, as the vehicle rose from the ground. I had no idea where the stranger had gone; he was not among the bodies; I checked. It’s not like I care. He was still a werewolf, a monster. That means he’s still dangerous. That guy could have pretended to save me to gain my trust and then eat us. I felt a little better because the demon wolf wasn’t there anymore, either. The air was back to normal. I could breathe easier, and couldn’t sense the malevolent aura anymore.

“Where are you taking us?” I asked after a while.

“We need to get you to Lyall Palace.” Mitchell looked at us. “It’s a little further away, but it’s safe there. Her Imperial Majesty is there waiting for your arrival.”

“Is Henry going to be there?”

I didn’t like it when the pilot and Mitchell exchanged knowing glances. 

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