CHAPTER 20: BLOOD RAGE
"Artimus!"
O'Bannon leapt to his feet. He shuddered at the sight before him.
The Chupacabra's teeth were buried in Artimus' shoulder. His friend cried out, kicking his legs.
O'Bannon roared and cast a Battering Spell. The bolt struck the Chupacabra between the shoulderblades. It jerked, lifting its head.
Jared appeared at his side. The two unleashed more Battering Spells. The Chupacabra wailed under the barrage and crawled away from Artimus.
Oh God. O'Bannon gasped. Terror swelled within him.
Blood streamed from Artimus' shoulder. A lot of blood. It soaked his robes and pooled on the carpet. All the while, Artimus kept screaming.
"Art!" Both he and Jared hurried toward him.
Something moved nearby.
O'Bannon looked up. The Chupacabra rose to its feet.
His eyes narrowed. Rage boiled inside him, more intense with each second. Images flashed through his mind. He saw himself at eleven years old, fighting off the two Third Years who had been assaulting Artimus. He recalled looking down at that scared little boy with the bleeding lip and magically twisted ears, and helping him to his feet. At the time, he never imagined that boy would become one of his best friends.
Now, nearly seven years later, that best friend lay on a floor in a house in Britain, blood pouring from his shoulder. All because of this damn monster.
O'Bannon bared his teeth, his gaze locked on the Chupacabra. The creature stared back at him, baring its teeth. Teeth stained with blood. His friend's blood.
His entire body shook with rage.
The Chupacabra roared and charged.
"FREEZIUM!" Every ounce of fury within him flowed into his wand. The usual white beam produced by the spell had become an intense cone of ice and snow. It consumed the Chupacabra.
O'Bannon had no idea how much time passed before he snapped his wand down. He growled, staring at the statue of ice that had been the Chupacabra.
Jared hollered beside him. A Battering Spell flew from his wand and struck the frozen creature. It exploded into a hundred chunks of ice. The frozen debris clattered across the floor.
O'Bannon glared at the remains of the Chupacabra. A dark happiness sprouted inside him. He was glad it was dead, glad they had killed it. He hoped the son-of-a-bitch suffered just like . . .
Artimus!
He turned and looked down at his friend, who howled and clutched his shoulder. Blood continued to flow from it.
"Art!" He dropped to his knees, Jared squatting across from him.
"Oh, Merlin!" Artimus cried. "Oh Merlin, it hurts!"
O'Bannon trembled. Artimus' face had grown ashen. He had no idea if it was from fear or blood loss. Maybe a combination of both?
"Somebody help!" Jared yelled.
A split second later Mrs. Weasley and Tonks knelt beside them. O'Bannon happened to look past Tonks, and saw the last Chupacabra writhing on the floor with what looked like a Bubble-Head Charm around its head, suffocating it.
"Accio Towel!" Mrs. Weasley summoned a towel from the kitchen. She forcibly had to move Artimus' hand from his shoulder and jammed the towel against the wound.
"You're gonna be fine, buddy. You're gonna be fine," O'Bannon repeated, staring at the blood on Artimus' robes and on the carpet. He'd never seen so much blood in his life.
"Tonks!" Mrs. Weasley turned to the auror. "Go to the bathroom and fetch some Pain-Dampening Potion, Anti-Infection Balm and Cut-Healing Paste."
"I'm on it." Tonks shot to her feet and hurried off, slipping twice on some of the ice fragments before bounding up the twisting staircase.
"Keep him calm," Mrs. Weasley ordered O'Bannon and Jared. "All this thrashing about could just make him bleed more."
O'Bannon gripped Artimus' arm, while Jared grasped the young man's non-injured shoulder.
"I don't wanna die!" Artimus cried out. "Please don't let me die!"
"You're not gonna die!" O'Bannon squeezed his friend's arm. "We're gonna fix you up, and you're gonna be fine, got it?"
"Jimmy's right, man," Jared said. "We've been looking out for one another for over seven years. You think that's gonna stop now? No way in hell we're gonna let you die. I mean, I still gotta get you laid!"
A smile flickered across O'Bannon's face. He then looked over to Jared and silently mouthed, "Keep saying funny stuff."
Jared nodded and stared back down at Artimus. "Hey. You remember that barmaid at The Warlock's Watering Hole in Ovenderburg? The one with the big, um, you-knows. I know you were sweet on her. When we get back to The States, we're goin' there, and I'm settin' you up with her. Got it?"
Artimus howled in pain, tears streaming down his eyes.
"Art!" Jared leaned closer to him. "I asked if you got that? Now answer me."
"Y-Yes," the word sounded strained.
"Good. Now start thinking of some good pick-up lines you can use on her. Can you do that?"
Artimus clenched his jaw and nodded. His thrashing grew less violent.
"Here! I got it!" Tonks charged down the steps, almost tripping over herself when she reached the bottom. She knelt beside Mrs. Weasley and set down the medicines next to her.
"Here. Get him to sit up."
O'Bannon and Jared obeyed Mrs. Weasley, easing Artimus to a sitting position. Tonks kept the towel pressed down on his shoulder while Mrs. Weasley picked up a glass bottle containing a dark colored liquid. She poured a bit of it onto a spoon she summoned from the kitchen.
"Drink this, dear. It'll make you feel better."
Mrs. Weasley held the spoon of Pain-Dampening Potion to Artimus' lips. He took a ragged breath, opened his mouth and took the potion. Within seconds his breathing became calmer and he stopped crying. Mrs. Weasley then applied the Anti-Infection Balm, followed by the Cut-Healing Paste.
"I'm going to contact Fred, George and Rosa," Lupin announced. "Have them come back here. If more Chupacabra show up we're going to need all the help we can get."
"I'd best summon Bill back here, too," said Mr. Weasley.
Moments later two patronuses flew out the busted window. O'Bannon bit his lower lip. Could more Chupacabra be on the way? They had a hard enough time killing these four. What if they had to face double that? Triple?
He held his breath. Realization slammed into him.
"There's still two more out there."
"What?" asked Tonks.
"Chupacabra." He got to his feet, clenching his wand. "There's two more of 'em around here."
He dashed toward the broken window.
"Don't go near that window!" Tonks shouted.
O'Bannon skidded to a halt a few feet from the window. He closed his eyes and groaned inwardly.
Idiot! Just stick your head out the window and let one of those damn things yank you outside and turn you into a late night snack. You've seen enough horror movies to know better.
"Let's get up to the roof," said Mr. Weasley. "We can try to spot them from there. Certainly much safer than wandering outside in the dark."
"Agreed." Lupin nodded. "Everyone else stay here in case -"
The shriek and crackle of spells echoed through the house.
Everyone whipped their heads around. O'Bannon strained his ears, trying to pinpoint the sounds. He focused on the staircase, and tensed.
The spells were coming from upstairs, where Harry, Ron and Ginny were.
He darted for the stairs, Mr. Weasley and Tonks right behind him. They pounded up the steps until they reached the top floor. O'Bannon raced down the hall. The sounds of pops and sizzles grew louder.
He shoved open the bedroom door. Harry, Ron and Ginny stood bunched together, casting spells out the window.
"What's going on here?" demanded Mr. Weasley.
Ron swung around. "Trying to get those two Chupacabra out there."
"I just happened to look out the window and saw those things skulking about." Ginny cast a Stunning Spell.
O'Bannon, Tonks and Mr. Weasley hurried over to them as Harry looked over his shoulder. "I must have hit one of them with three Body-Bind Curses. All it's done is just slow it down."
"Yeah, resilient bastards, aren't they?" O'Bannon scowled.
He stood on tip-toes and looked over the three. In the light of their spells he saw two Chupacabra darting about, trying to avoid the numerous multi-colored bolts. Ron nailed one with a stunner, which barely fazed it. Ginny hit another with a Jelly Leg Jinx. The Chupacabra didn't seem to notice.
"They're going around to the other side of the house," Ron blurted.
"C'mon." Tonks started toward the door. "We better . . ."
Spells suddenly streaked out of the sky. O'Bannon leaned out the window. He sucked in an excited breath.
Rosa and the twins dove at the Chupacabra. Fred and George surrounded the creatures in a ring of fire, while Rosa cast a Constrictus Curse. Vines shot through the ground and grasped the two Chupacabra.
A fourth broom rider appeared. Bill Weasley. An orange bolt streaked from his wand. The vines rose higher and higher, the Chupacabra struggling to free themselves.
Bill snapped his wand down. The vines slammed the two monsters into the ground over and over again.
A silvery beam emanated from Rosa's wand. Several sharp, pointy rocks broke through the ground.
The vines snapped down again, driving the Chupacabra into the rocks. They lifted the creatures, who hung limply, then drove them into the rocks again.
Again.
Again.
Again.
The vines flung the mangled bodies of the Chupacabra onto the rocks. They lay there, unmoving.
"Oy!" Fred flew up to the window. "You lot okay?"
"Not everyone," Arthur answered. "Artimus is hurt pretty bad."
Fred's eyes widened. "Artimus? What happened?"
O'Bannon quickly ran down the battle for him.
"So You-Know-Who made these things into shape-shifters? And garden gnomes of all things."
"It makes sense," Tonks noted. "Gnomes don't set off wards, and they wouldn't arouse suspicion."
Fred bobbed his head back and forth, as if pondering Tonks' words.
"We'd best get downstairs and check on Artimus," said Mr. Weasley. "Fred. Get your brothers and Rosa and meet us at the front door."
"Right, Dad." Fred nodded and flew off.
O'Bannon followed Mr. Weasley and the others out of the bedroom and back downstairs. Bill stepped through the front door a second later.
"The Ministry just sent over two more aurors," he informed everyone. "They Apparated as we landed."
"Just two?" Jared shook his head. "Ya'd think with Harry here they'd send over every damn auror they have available."
"Unfortunately, the Aurors Office is spread thin. They're not only dealing with the attacks all over the country, but when I was at St. Mungo's I heard some of these Chupacabra got into the Ministry of Magic itself."
"You gotta be kidding." O'Bannon gaped at Bill. How the hell did these things get to the middle of London and into the Ministry?
With all the spies You-Know-Who has at the Ministry, you gotta figure one of them smuggled some Chupacabra in there. Then another thought struck him. What if some of Lord Voldemort's sympathizers inside the Ministry were sending aurors off on wild goose chases, trying to keep them away from The Burrow? It probably wouldn't be hard, considering the chaos the Chupacabra had thrown Wizarding Britain into.
"Artimus!"
Rosa's cry made him jump. He whipped around and saw her rush through the door, dropping to her knees next to him.
"Oh Merlin, Artimus." She gently stroked his hair, looking at Mrs. Weasley. "Is he going to be okay?"
"All I've managed to do is slow the bleeding, not stop it. His wounds were caused by a dark creature. It's going to take more than what I can do to heal him."
Rosa's lips trembled as she continued to stroke Artimus' hair. "We gotta get him to a healer. Now!"
"I agree," said Tonks. "One of us needs to Floo him to St. Mungo's."
"I can do that." Bill raised his hand.
"Thanks, Bill." Rosa gave him a weak smile, then returned her attention to Artimus, who looked half-conscious.
"Speaking of Floo," Lupin began, "we should also consider Flooing Harry to one of our safe houses. If we have to face even more Chupacabra we may not be able to -"
Spells crackled outside. O'Bannon headed to the front door, where Fred and George stood in the threshold.
The two aurors backed up down the dirt path, casting one spell after another. Bearing down on them were a dozen Chupacabra.
"We've got company!" O'Bannon raised his wand, as did the twins.
"That tears it," Lupin declared. "We're Flooing out of here. Bill, you take Artimus to St. Mungo's. The rest of us will go to one of the safe houses."
Bill cast a Levitation Spell on Artimus. Lupin took a step toward the fireplace.
A crash reverberated throughout the Burrow.
"What the hell's that?" Jared looked toward the kitchen.
"Sounds like it came from the cellar," said George.
O'Bannon swallowed. The cellar? He thought about the Chupacabra's ability to burrow.
Oh no. Don't tell me...
Four Chupacabra burst through the cellar door and charged them.
TO BE CONTINUED