Chapter 11

Verity

Abidos and I didn't talk about that kiss…or everything that connected to it…for a long time. I think he'd sensed that I was still uneasy about how I'd lost control. Still, something had changed between us after that...

I was just amazed that he was hanging onto his belief in me so hard. I mean, he was thinking about it so hard that I always heard part of his little mantra:

"I believe in Verity and her control over her magic."

Just that, over and over again. Either he was trying to convince himself or he was trying to help me. And actually…I think it did help; nobody back home truly believed I had any control.

At any rate, his belief got me through to finals. And a week before finals was when things got bad.

Practically right in the middle of a class, Professor Maximar suddenly flinched visibly, and his red eyes tracked down to his arm. Then he looked up. "Class dismissed; Abidos, Verity, meet me at the duel stadium…I think I can make it before…" He didn't finish his sentence, he just tore off running.

Abidos and I looked at each other hesitantly. Abidos started to ask as we headed for the door, "Verity, can you…"

"Professor Maximar never covered teleportation. We'll have to run. I'll get there first and challenge him, and then we'll wait for you to catch up."

"Be careful."

I nodded, dropping to all fours and tearing off as if a hunt was right on my tail.

As it turned out, Professor didn't quite make it before he suddenly writhed so hard that he fell down, and he started screaming. I sensed as I caught up to him that even as he was screaming, his mind was retreating before the dark force. And that was plain to hear in his screams: first they went distant, and then they started changing into something more like snarling.

That snarl made my fur want to stand on end and run away. See…as a general rule, foxes avoid wolves. We're smaller, nowhere near as strong, and they live in packs. And yet…Mrs. Kaiba entrusted saving her brother to me and Abidos.

His jacket and shirt shredded as muscles bulked up his form. Then fur as black as his skin started growing rapidly over his back, arms and sides, and presumably his chest which I couldn't see. His hands got larger, longer, and his fingers grew definite claws. His legs lengthened, and his shoes were destroyed as his feet lengthened and became paws with their own claws.

The most frightening change, though, was his head and neck. His neck thickened, and his head…he still had his hair, which was unnerving enough, but his ears traveled up on top of his head and got pointed and furry, and his nose and mouth stretched into a muzzle…with inch-long fangs.

The snarls quieted. Then the professor rolled over and slowly stood up. A blazing red outline of a wolf's head was visible through the fur on one arm.

When the professor opened his eyes…I wondered how anyone had found his eyes scary before. They may have been red, but at least they were friendly. Nothing like this! These red eyes were the eyes of a predator! And then he pointed his nose to the sky and howled.

Dark clouds swirled overhead, circling so that they blocked out the sun. I tried to ignore the fear that was building in my human side and – yes – tried to listen with the ears of a fox demon.

Now. I have to speak now. That howl wasn't just a victory cry, it was a challenge for anyone who would dare stand against him.

I surged to my feet and…the only word to describe the suddenness of my call is "barked." "Wolfshadow!"

Abidos caught up to me around the time the wolf turned in our direction. I ear-twitched in acknowledgement of his presence and continued, "My mate and I would challenge you to a Power Game for the fate of this world!"

I sensed Abidos twitch in response to the word "mate." Well, I couldn't exactly fault him when I hadn't discussed the script with him beforehand, but it was the only explanation a wolf-demon would take for a fox-demon tag-dueling him; normally, fox-demons of Chaotia are solitary, not really caring to make friends. But the one thing that they will do is take a mate for life: females to any male they care to, including humans, and males only to their own kind. My existence is only explained by the fact that my father meant to kill my mother and hadn't been able to.

The fiend bared his teeth. I read a mix of irritation – how dare someone actually answer my challenge – and amusement – these younglings are challenging me? They're barely old enough to even be mated!

Weirdly enough, that last one had my ears twitching backwards in irritation.

Finally, he spoke. "Interesting. And what might the wager be? These matches are only interesting if something should happen to the loser."

I hadn't been expecting him to still be able to speak with that face, but I covered quickly. "If you lose, you forfeit your soul. If we lose, I forfeit my soul…and my mate's heart." I'm wishing I had time to talk this over with Abidos. He's probably still in shock over the "mate" thing, and now I'm effectively giving this thing permission to eat his heart if we lose!

So we won't lose.

Wolfshadow's expression definitely became one of hungry anticipation. "I accept your challenge and your wager."

I pointed at the duel stadium. "Then let us go to the arena." Arena works, considering.

He vanished from in front of us and Abidos turned towards me. I hoped it really was turned towards me, and not turned on me.

"I know, Abidos, I know, I just raised the stakes. I wish I'd thought to talk to you about the speech I was going to use on this freak, but I knew he wouldn't have truly accepted the tag-duel unless both of us had something on the line…"

"Verity."

I looked up. Now when did I look down? "Yes?"

"I love you."

And while I stood there in shock, he continued. "I was caught a little off guard by what you were saying, but I understand perfectly. And we will not lose. You have the control we need, you know more about dueling than you think, and I've learned as much as anyone can about dueling and magic in the time I was given. Now we'd best not keep that wolf waiting."

"R-right."

We approached the corridor. Right before we went in, I caught his wrist. "Abidos?"

"Yes?"

After a hesitation, I plowed on. "I love you, too. I'd kiss you right now, but remembering what happened last time, I don't think we have the time for that."

He smirked and quipped, "After the duel, then."

We went in and found that Wolfshadow had made a duel disc appear on his arm. We activated our duel discs, Abidos and I got four thousand life points – and so did Wolfshadow, but I wasn't going to mention that – and we yelled, "Duel!"