Chapter 21: Wolf

When we did reach the border, the sun was slowly setting, shadowing us with the last rays of the day.  Rhett and I took the sight in, while the others discussed what was needed to be done next.  Since Flora had lost so much weight, Derek had to carry her on his back. The snow did tire you out and in her condition, she shouldn't have even been traveling, but we weren't going to leave her behind.

            "Once we crossed the border," Derek huffed as he set Flora down with Raven's help so he could rest for a moment, "We can call Jacobson. Flora isn't going to hold on much longer." As she stood there in the snow, she looked pale as if she'd seen a ghost and she was starting to chatter quietly.

            "At least we're at the border," Jane muttered as she repositioned her backpack on her shoulders.

            "Betty, you're on the hot seat," Derek said to her. She nodded as we camoflauged ourselves in the tree line.  We watched her with anticipation as she walked up to the guard posted there. It was a female guard with white army camoflauge and no visible hair under her white winter hat. She must have cut it short.

            "What are you doing here student?" The guard snarled. Her voice sounded rough and not like a woman's at all.

            "My friends and I demand passage," She replied coolly, not losing composure. "You will let us pass and you will forget that we ever crossed your path today." The guard went into some sort of trance and repeated what Betty had told her eerily. Betty smiled and then signaled for us to come. We all clambered out of the trees as the guard watched us with a glazed look in her grayed eyes.  After we were a distance away, I looked back to see that she was still standing there, with that eerily look.

            "Freedom!" Jane shouted and Raven and Derek shushed her. The group continued walking until finally, when there was barely any light left, Derek stopped.

            "We're far enough that Jacobson can pick us up." He announced.

            "Warmth here we come," Raven exclaimed as Derek began to type the number in.

            "Excuse me," A small voice asked behind us. The group turned around to face a petite girl with frilly black hair that was smushed down against her hat.  She had slim legs for being petite and a small nose dappled with freckles.  Her green eyes danced with curiousity.  She wore black skinny jeans and a red sweater that said Riot on it in white lettering.  She also wore a black, leather jacket and black snowboots. 

            "Can we help you?" Derek growled; hostility in his voice.

            "Yes, actually. You're taking my souls away" Her eyes glowed red and rimmed as she eyed Rhett, then Jane and then Flora.

            "Demon," Raven hissed. "Or should I say Chelsey."

            Chelsey smirked as she cracked her knuckles. "Oh you were bound to find out eventually.  Good thing I brought back up." She snapped her fingers and out of nowhere, a group of demons jumped out.  Some were already in their forms of animals, while some of the others were in human form. There was a tiger and a jaguar sitting next to each other, their tails flicking in the snow.  A water buck stood tall in the snow, its brown coat making it quite visible. A cloud leopard prowled next to the antilope, flexing its claws with anticipation. The tiger noticed and glared at the leopard who noticed and sat down. A small cluster of guys began cracking their knuckles, preparing for a fight. A boy stood alone.  He looked awkward around the demons, as if he shouldn't be there.

              "But before I kill you and take what I need," Chelsey continued, inturputing my thoughts. "I feel like I should explain something, directly to you Flora." The demon have Flora the ugliest stare I had ever seen.  What had Flora ever done to Chelsey?

            Flora had been put down and now was standing in between Raven and Derek.  Her face looked ashen, but determined not to collapse. Her hand was on Raven's arm, using Raven as support.  "Go ahead Chelsey. What's your story?" Flora's voice was surprising calm. "What have I done to you?"

            "Well," Chelsey began, acting all flustered and dramatic. "After you left school, I was made fun of for puking flowers down the hallway. Even though it was the end of the day, my phone constantly vibrated with texts and people shouted at me, yelling nasty things at me.  You  humiliated me.  I was ruined! Until Jase came up to me after school, as I was getting ready to walk home and asked me a question that sounded so bizarre at the time, but made total sense now. He asked me if I wanted to trade my soul to the devil.

            "He explained I would have to make a payment before hand, plus I would have to pass a test, but if I did all those, the contract between Jase and I would break and I could finally cast my revenge on you.  He knew that I had a grudge for you and besides, he even told me he had one as well.   So I made the contract and I was tasked with finding the big 5, I had to look it up of course but it was 5 dangerous animals from Africa."  She showed the palm of her hand to show a 6 carved into her hand.

            "Told you she traded her soul to the devil," Raven whispered to Betty. I smirked.

            "Then why do you need me?  I'm only a flower." The flower girl asked, so many emotions were drawn on her face.

            "To get my revenge. Have you been listening to me?" She walked up to her and Raven and Derek stiffened as they tried to block her, but Chelsey pushed them aside. They both flew a few feet away and landed in the snow, stunned by the strength of her. "You ruined me and I looked up to you, but you threw me under the bus.  Now I plan to ruin you." She hissed.

            "Chelsey, leave her alone." Flora looked around to see the lone guy that looked so awkward around the demons. He stepped forward and I recognized him right away; Ethan.

            "Ethan!" Flora  pushed Chelsey aside and ran toward him. 

            "Flora! He's demon!" Raven yelled while still laying in the snow.  Her hair had snowflakes in her hair. It looked magical, with the white and black complimenting each other.  I did the only thing I could do since I was standing there; I ran after her and grabbed her arms before she ran for Ethan. Rhett tried to help but he was no use.

            "He's demon," I whispered harshly.

            "Ethan!" She screamed, tears streaming from her eyes. She used whatever strength she could muster, but she was no match to me.  She gave up in my arms.

            "Flora, I-I'm so sorry." Ethan stuttered, looking remorseful to see what Flora had put herself through.

            "You could have told me you were still alive! Written to me or something!" She shrieked at him. "You could have put me at ease for a little bit."

            "I didn't want you to know that I was this-this monster.  I didn't need you to bear-"

            "Bullshit!" Jane interrupted. "She nearly killed herself thinking you were dead! She could have killed herself Ethan!" Ethan didn't reply. He walked away from where he stood and tried to come near Flora and me.

            "Don't come near us," I hissed. "You've done enough damage as it is." He looked sad at what I had said.

            "Jase," Flora said. The Jaguar who was sitting next to the tiger changed back to a handsome demon with broad shoulders and bright teeth.  "We thought you were gay!" She told him. "Everyone, even Emily!"

            "Well, you were wrong." He smiled and gave her a bright smile.

            "Demon," She spat and then she ripped her arms out of my grasp and stalked back, not daring to look anymore.  Derek and Raven had stood back up and wiped the snow off their bodies.

            "So Tanya," Raven called. The tiger looked up and bared its teeth. It changed to a slim, yet short brown haired girl.  She stood next to Jase. "Are you going to take me with you so The Father can have me?"

            The girl named Tanya only smiled, "I wish.  Sadly though, The Father did not give me clearance to.  Drake will though. He's looking for you."

            "He won't find me though," I countered. "I'm a Raven. Black as night." I smirked devilishly.  Tanya squinted in disgust. The cloud leopard changed to a beautiful, tall and slim girl with ginger hair that fell to her shoulder blades.

            "Are we going to do this or not!" She shrieked. "I want to sink my claws in some flesh!"

            "It's up to Chelsey, Caroline. This is her test. Remember, she has to earn her keep since she traded her soul to the devil," Tanya spoke as if she was speaking to a child. Caroline sighed loudly and stalked back to the water buck where she patted his nose and kissed it gingerly before changing back to a cloud leopard.

            Chelsey cracked her knuckles, "You two," She pointed at Rhett and then Jane. "You have choice. You can come willingly with me, or you can fight and you will all die."

            "Go to Hell," Jane hissed. "I'm not going with you willingly."

            "How 'bout you?" Chelsey said to Rhett.

            "I'm not going with you," He said plainly. Chelsey sighed.

            "I knew this was going to happen. Let's kill them." She called to the group of demons. The group charged.  Our group changed and braced for impact. Flora stumbled through the snow and tried to stay away from the battle. She was clearly not able to fight. I ran through the snow, feeling my fur through the cool air as I tackled a hippo, but I didn't have enough strength to bring it down. It was a large animal as it snapped at me. I growled, baring teeth. The hippo charged at me, showing its large mouth.

            The hippo was faster than I anticipated as I was knocked back, with the wind knocked out of my lungs. I fell in the snow and the Hippo walked toward me, its mouth wide open.  I struggled to get up, but it was hard to breathe and I couldn't get up. The hippo was feet away when a large gray mass rammed into the demon beast. Rhett.

            He came to my aid and changed back, making sure I was ok. I hadn't changed back yet. I regained my breathing and stood up with ease. Rhett smiled kissed my forehead, whispering praise and luck in my ear. I nuzzled his cheek and then ran back off, looking for another victim that was more my size. I saw the cloud leopard slinking around, looking for something to devour. I locked my eyes on her and crept of after her. Her body was pressed against the snow, trying to hide from the battling. I noticed Raven and Derek battling in the sky, attacking the tiger using their talons and beaks.  Betty stayed with Flora, protecting her with self-defense skills she picked up. Flora sat in the snow, sitting on someone's backpack, trying to muster strength in her body to create some sort of plant.

            Jane was battling Jase. They were so alike; I couldn't tell which one was which.  Ethan was stampeding over to Flora, trying to get to her to protect her. I followed the cloud leopard, trying to figure out where she was going.  Rhett was battling the water buck and it looked Rhett was winning. He rammed the deer animal and hit it in the leg. Blood tainted the white snow as the deer fell and stayed down.  I changed back and smiled, but it was wiped away when I saw what happened next.  The cloud leopard had crept up behind Rhett and pounced.

            "RHETT!" I screamed, but the reaction was too late. The cloud leopard was on his back and raking the skin away, drawing blood. I changed to my wolf and tried to tackle the leopard, but she pushed me off with her strong tail. Since she was demon, she had more strength than I did. She growled at me, who had fallen in a patch of bloody snow, and bit deeply in Rhett's neck. I howled as I changed back.

            Caroline hopped off his back as he toppled into the snow, her paws bloody. She bared her teeth at me as she stalked away to check on the water buck.  She left bloody pawprints in the snow. I clambered over to Rhett, who had now changed back to himself. He was panting and bleeding in the cold snow. I could see the bite and I knew he was going to turn. I dragged him into my lap, cradling him in my arms. Tears stung the back of my eyes.

            "Rhett," I choked. "Rhett, are you still there?"

            "Ye-yeah," He coughed, a dribble of blood poured out of the corner of his mouth.  I took his hand. It shook in my grasp. Blood bubbled in the wounds, and the sweet, acid smell of blood snaked into my nose.

            "Fight the venom," I cried, "Fight the venom so you don't leave me."

            "I-I can't," He confessed as he eyes began closing.

            "Rhett!" I yelled. His eyes were barely closed. I knew if they closed, it would be over.

            "I love you," Rhett breathed and his eyes closed.  The venom set in.  His bode began to spasem, kicking uncontrollable.  His hands clenched and his back arched painfully.  Snow sprayed all around us as he changed, as he became immortal. When he stopped moving, I knew I had to leave and kill the b***h that turned my love. I laid Rhett down in the snow and kissed his head.

            "I'm sorry," I whispered and then backed away, in grief and in rage. I looked down at my clothes; they were covered in blood. So I did the one thing I could do to let my emotion out; I screamed.