Freedom
"Today's the day!" Ashley exclaimed drunkenly to his twin, rousing Adren the next morning. "I got our Demon in a thousand dollar match."
Kelly, who was guzzling moonshine from a jug, choked. "How? Where?" he sputtered.
"'Member those two who gave us ol' Blackie?" when his twin nodded Ashley continued. "They got this new couple of dogs that they wanna fight with at our place for a private party."
Both twins let out a whoop at the same time and dashed off to prepare.
Adren
Inside his cage, the werewolf growled at the familiar voice inside his head. Luna watched him puzzled.
What are you doing now, Adren Foster? Noble Aztec priestess Adenanstar. Lady Adrene Farst. My beloved Adrena. Erik asked him.
Adren stopped growling and seemed to wear a confused frown… had he been in human form.
I remember the all the lives I took from you. I remember your feral scent when we first met. I remember each and every time your spell overtook my senses and mystified my mind.
Erik continued as if in a daze. You are so different now than all the other lives you've lived, but still the same. Your eyes and hair. He sighed. I used to want you and I to be the same and now that we are, how can I still can love you?
Because we are soulmates, something inside Adren whispered.
No! Erik roared shaken out of his reverie. Soulmates are for pathetic fools! I am not a fool! Then he was gone from inside Adren's mind.
Emptiness filled him, one that came and went every time Erik entered and left his life. Adren let out a mournful howl that was joined by Luna's a moment later. A howl symbolic of the sorrow of the sadness inside his heart.
The place stunk of expensive cigars and water down alcohol. It was okay; nobody in the saloon was drinking it anyway. Most preferred to drink blood.
Thierry Descouedres watched the twin owners with distaste. They were the lowest of humans. They obviously were cheating at cards. They were filthy, crude and tried convincing Thierry he needed to go upstairs with one of their girls. There was only one girl for him and Maya killed her.
That's who brought Thierry to the party Maya was throwing. That and the rumor there was a dragon with her.
Across from him surrounded by elite vampires, dark witches and funky shapeshifters sat Maya happily chatting with some man that wasn't human or Night World. At their feet, was a slobbering werewolf mindlessly attacking a ham bone.
The stranger must be the dragon, Thierry thought with a frown. How is it he's here and what are Maya and he doing with that werewolf?
The answer to one of his questions came a moment later.
"Maya, how ever did you wake your dragon there?" a witch inquired.
Maya chuckled and let Erik tell the tale.
"Actually, I've never been placed in eternal slumber." He said with a laugh. "When the others of my kind were put asleep, I was overlooked; which is easy to do if you're busy battling giant scaly lizards with horns."
"I notice you don't have one." Someone else threw in and Erik scowled.
"Despite the fact I am not as powerful as my kin, I know far darker and more powerful magics than any creature has ever known to make up for that fact." He growled.
A tense silence followed that was broken when Kelly laughed and exclaimed, "Well, shall we get on with the entertainment side of this party?"
The arena behind the saloon was packed with strange creatures and him. His stench was unmistakable. The blood of his heart was his breath. The deaths of his pack and family were on his head. When Ashley dragged him and Luna out, Adren looked up, saw him leering and growled.
"That's a good Demon." Ashley purred to him, "You kill that doggie over there."
Across from him, he sensed another of his kind but different. His mind was empty except for one thing, Kill. He stunk of vampires and innocent's blood but not unlike Adren, the werewolf was feral.
Thierry couldn't believe what his senses and eyes were telling him what the entertainment was. Two werewolves, one the brown and white he saw earlier and a new pure black wolf with unusual dark green eyes, were to battle to the death. He watched as Kelly lifted a normal wolf up to his brother and murmured a threat to the black werewolf: if he died, the wolf would too.
Thierry shook his head. If those two had more brains, they'd know that wolf is human. As is, they know he understands them.
Suddenly the fight began and Maya's werewolf leaped forward toward Adren, who easily avoided the attack by simply jumping over the animal. Then both wolves sized one another, growling and showing teeth.
The feral went for Adren's throat and he countered by going low—exactly what the creature wanted. Without warning, Adren found the monster on his back holding on to his flesh between his neck and shoulders. He rolled with the fiend, attempting to knock him off in the tussle. When that didn't work, Adren slammed his back into the side of the arena—only to have the creature release him and have Adren smash himself into the wall.
The feral growled in triumph when Adren fell into a dazed lump and dove for his throat again. Only Adren wasn't there and the monster went headfirst into the wall. Above him, crouched on the edge of the wall was Adren in all his naked glory in human form grinning maniacally at his fallen foe.
The Booth's began to run as Adren turned his animalistic grin on them and took a step toward then as he changed back into a wolf. Now loose, Luna and Adren began their escape.
As they ran startling vampire, witches and shifters alike out of their seats, Adren heard the familiar crack of a neck breaking and then a second a moment later.
"Get those animals!" Erik roared and Adren spun with a growl to advance on him. When he saw what Adren had done, Erikthya laughed.
"Do you want someone do stop him?" Maya inquired fanning herself with her silk fan as Thierry watched the scene with fascination.
"No, let him come." He replied with a smile, his eyes never leaving Adren as he once again shifted from wolf to human.
Time seemed to slow. The world around them vanished. Anger and sexual frustration filled the air between them.
When they were face to face, Adren growled and bared his strangely sharp teeth at Erik who gingerly reached out and caressed his soulmate's cheek.
"Your eyes have gotten darker, more savage looking." He told Adren who snapped at his hand.
Adren didn't respond or release Erik's captured fingers, nor did the dragon attempt to take them back.
"And you hair is so tangled, little witch."
At that Adren lashed out and kicked him in the groin before delivering a vicious uppercut that knocked Erik flat on his back. Then he quickly shifting into a wolf bounded off.
Maya watched her dragon companion writhe in pain with amusement as Thierry unseen dashed outside after the two wolves.
Freedom, Adren would remember later, tasted of ambrosial blood and smelled of sweet grass. The colors of town were heightened. Deep indigoes melted into endless blacks. Pale ivory moonlight shined from a sky of radiant navy with tiny pinpricks of bright starry light.
Behind him, Adren heard the sound of something pursuing and reached into his unbounded wild energies to race faster into the night. The wind whipped through his midnight fur, the ground passed in a blur of movement and still the vampire stayed with him.
The town was gone and a dark horizon of flat land greeted Luna and Adren. Side by side, as they were in slavery, the wolves fled. Claws dug into hard earth, a harsh wind kicked up dust into their sensitive eyes but the two never stopped. Freedom had come and nobody was going to steal it away.
I'll not harm you! Thierry cried to Adren inside his animal mind. I do not know what Maya and her dragon have done to you or you friend but I swear I'm not your enemy.
Adren yelped in pain as his paw landed wrong, sending him into the ground with all the momentum he built up running from Thierry. Luna halted and came back to her companion.
Pain sliced through his leg every time Adren dare move to attempt getting away. Fear came when both wolves spied Thierry approach. Luna took up a protective position and growled menacing at the stranger when he came.
"It's alright." He told them both in a soothing tone. "I only wish to help."
When he slowly moved closer, Luna growled in warning. He went down onto his knees and held out his hand to her in a gesture of peace.
"There's no need to fear me. I'm a friend." He told them softly. "It's okay."
Not used to human kindness, Luna growled and inched closer but stayed protective of the injured Adren.
"That's it, my friend." Thierry murmured. "Come see me. I'll not hurt you."
Luna inched closer as he encouraged her until she was eye to eye and sniffed him. While she investigated, he gingerly began petting her and continued until she realized what he was doing.
She jerked back and Adren whimpered as she slowly came back for another pet. Thierry gave the lobo what she desired and even scratched her behind the ears affectionately.
"I'm going to look at your companion now." Thierry told Luna slowly rising to his feet, motioning toward Adren. Then he slowly approached the werewolf with Luna following discreetly behind.
He knelt down in front of Adren and gingerly examined the injured leg. Whenever Adren would yelp, Thierry would stop whatever he was doing and gently pet him until the pain went away or he was calmed down.
"I'm going to call a friend to come with a wagon to take you and your partner with me where it's safe." Thierry informed him before telepathically calling his friend to come.