Nightshade

"No!" I screamed as my father leaped for Emile Laroche. The other alpha gave a bloody grin, filled with malice. He crashed into my father, and the two alphas tore into each other, fueled by years of rivalry. Emile locked his jaws onto my father's foreleg and threw him back, sending him crashing into a long pillar of wood.

I shifted into wolf form, ready to strike, when my father's voice stopped me. Calla, He sent the thought to me. I turned and raced to him, still subject to the alpha's rule.

Take my blood. I offered him my leg and he bit into it, drinking the blood that immediately healed his wounds. He stood back up. My golden eyes flickered back to Emile and then to where Ren was standing. The dark furred wolf was shouting at him in his mind.

You traitor! You killed my mother, and now my father too! You raised me as a lie, only the keepers rule kept you from killing me! He crouched and readied himself to spring.

Reiner! Do not attack Emile! The sharp command of the Nightshade alpha rang in my head, but Ren didn't stop. He leaped for Emile in fury. Emile crouched and leaped to meet him in the air. Ren jerked his head away a split second from Emile's jaws closing around his neck. Instead they consumed his leg, bringing them both to the ground in a pile of flashing fangs.

I should have killed you the day you were born! Emile snarled in his thoughts. Ren let out an enraged howl.

My father rushed forward, pushing Ren aside. He latched his jaws into Emile's neck and pushed him backward.

Go with Shay! My father shot at us. I nodded, and pulled Ren with me in the direction Shay had gone. He followed me; I could still feel the burning thoughts in his mind.

I dashed through Rowan estate, rounding the corner into the library with Ren on my heels. I skidded to a stop to avoid crashing into Shay. He was looking at thekeeper, Lumine.

So this is where they ran to, I thought, letting Ren hear. He growled.

Shay had the Elemental Cross out, swinging the blades dangerously.

"Protect me!" Lumine cried, summoning a wraith to her. The black mass loomed up in front of us and I flinched and the smell of death, of nothingness, that came with it.

Shay leaped through the air, flashing the swords aroung himself as he stabbed towards the wraith. Lumine screamed and fled, leaving the others. Shay slashed the wraith apart and it let out the most earsplitting cry, making me want to flee, to never hear the sound again.

A movement caught my eye, and I saw Adne, Connor and Ethan standing over Logan. "Do it!" Connor yelled. "We had a deal!"

Logan trembled. He began chanting in a low voice. Mist swirled at the back of the library, darkening into black shadows. A shape formed in the midst of them.

"Logan." A raspy voice said. Logan cowered, his chanting stopped. Ethan kicked him.

"Keep going!" he growled. Logan started the chant again, still in a tiny voice. Then he stopped.

"Its done." He whispered.

I peered into the shadows, trying to make out the shape. All at once the fog disappeared, and there stood the most hideous creature I had ever laid eyes on, even counting the demons from the Nether.

"Bosque," Logan gasped and stuttered. Blood gushed from his back, the cause of the blood oath.

The creature twisted its face into a mask of fury. "You have disobeyed me, Logan." There was a sickening click after every word it spoke, like that ov a pincher bug.

Ren whined in my mind, I wanted to do the same but I wouldn't let the fear overcome me now.

"Bosque!" Shay yelled, crossing the swords in front of him. Bosque turned towards him, the narrow slits of his eyes flashing.

"You think you can beat me, Scion?"

Shay leaped forward with the swords. Bosque yelled wordlessly, the maddened cry of a strangled animal. He snapped his fingers and Ran and I were thrown against the back wall.

"Calla!" Shay yelped, making a move to run to me. I shifted into human form.

"Don't pay attention to me! Get him!"

Shay turned back to Bosque, and it was as if the swords were magnets, pushing and pulling Bosque into the fireplace. It started to glow in a frightening way.

"Be gone!" Shay yelled, in not quite his voice. The creature thrashed and snarled as its huge frame was pushed back into the rift, Shay with it.

Dead silence.

"Shay?" I whispered, the first to break the silence. Ren shifted beside me.

Ethan and Connor looked up.

"I'm sorry," Adne whispered. "We knew this would happen...I-I couldn't…"

I stared at her, my shock turning to anger. "You knew I would loose him?" I cried, hot tears running down my cheeks.

Adne took a step back, and Connor stepped in front of her, "Is had to be this way." He said, but I could see the sorrow in his eyes too.

I collapsed to the floor, and Ren came down with me. He wrapped his arms around me.

"What will happen to us?" he asked.

Ethan sighed. "The Nether has been separated from us, along with all its creatures." He looked down.

Why is he sad? It's good the Nether creatures are gone…I thought, something didn't seem right to me.

Ren stiffened. "But the Nether…it was used to create us."

"Yes." Connor sighed.

I started to tremble, but then stopped. "So we'll be wolves."

"Yes." Ethan said. I looked at Ren. I saw in his eyes that he could feel the wild calling.

"Its time to go Calla." He said, and I didn't have to ask what he meant.

"I'm ready." I let myself fall into a wolf and Ren did the same. The Rift flamed brighter and then disappeared.

I felt light, and worry free as a part of me floated to the sky. I howled joyfully and ran from the building, Ren by my side.

The War of All Against All…is finally over.