Chapter 2: Chapter 2 : Running from Demons

*Constance*

I screamed as they made their attack. There was blood everywhere as the guards standing nearest the exit fought them off and lost. Then, the wolves' eyes locked on us. We were next, and there was no way out.

I felt my father’s hand on my shoulder, pulling me from my shock.

“GO!” he cried as he pushed me and my mother forward, urging us to leave the room. “Go to the Eastern Territory and ask for refuge! I’ll find you as soon as I can! GO!”

I looked over my shoulder to see five massive wolves clamoring into the room. My father quickly sized each of them up, his fists squeezing at his sides. I knew he couldn’t take on all of them, not on his own. But then, the other Alpha stood up beside him.

They each nodded at one another, their fates sealed by the other. Dax and Wilson stayed with them, and each man lined up against the beasts inching closer.

I felt a tug at my arm and turned to see my mother pulling me with her. “We must leave!” she yelled, her eyes urgent and her voice pleading.

“But Father!” I screamed, pulling back. I wasn’t going to leave him behind. He needed to come with us in order to survive.

I fought against her as she tried to drag me into the exposed crawl space.

“WE MUST LEAVE!” my mother urged.

I stared at my father as the wolves padded closer, their tongues licking their lips. My father turned back, giving one last longing look at us, and I swore I felt my heart tear into two.

“Go,” he mouthed.

And that was it. I watched as he and the others transformed, fighting against those from the Southern Territory.

Eventually, I submitted to my mother’s strength, knowing I had little choice. As we ducked into the small dark space, I heard the sound of bodies clashing bodies above, a storm of snarling teeth and claws.

I kept telling myself he’d be okay, that I would see my father again. But in my heart, I knew that was the last time I would ever see him.

My mother and I held each other’s hands as we crawled through the darkened crawl space beyond. We inched forward on our hands and knees, ancient water soaking our clothes even as a battle raged above us.

I longed to ask where we were going and how my mother knew this space even existed, but before I could open my mouth, the crawl space opened up into a vast chamber with a domed ceiling.

I knew it at once to be the entrance to the catacombs beneath the castle, where my ancestors were buried. My mother crawled out headfirst into the catacomb entrance, helping me down behind her.

I dusted myself off once my feet were firmly planted on the ground. I looked back at where we came from and was astounded to see the hidden space nearly completely obscured by a statue. I had been down in the catacombs dozens of times in my life and had never noticed the small hole that led up inside the castle.

“Come, the tunnels are just ahead,” my mother said, grabbing my hand and dragging me with her.

Suddenly, I pulled back, frustrated and terrified. “Where? What tunnels?” I gestured around us. “There are miles of tunnels right here. Where do you think we’ll go? They could catch up to us at any second!”

“Not these tunnels,” she insisted, her eyes alert. “Long ago, when your father’s father ruled, he had installed a series of escape routes in case someone infiltrated the castle. That’s where we go now. They lead into the forest beyond the territory. We must hurry. While the escape tunnels themselves are hidden, the catacomb entrance is not.”

The urgency in her tone caused my feet to scurry along after her.

I stumbled through the darkness, not even my wolf’s eyes able to pierce through the thick gloom. No light shined through into the catacombs, and not even the sound from above could cut through the several feet of earth above us.

My mother dared not risk lighting a torch in case the enemy had already followed us along our trail. We crept silently down and down and down to the point where even the air felt thick and thin at the same time.

I was damp with sweat and shivering from the cold. The moisture clung to the stone walls around me, pooling around my feet as I desperately tried to stay close behind my mother.

I was nearly frozen with fear, still not comprehending what was happening. If it wasn’t for my mother’s firm voice and confident stride, I’m not sure I would have ever gotten out of there alive.

At last, we came to the end of a corridor lined with rows of shelves where the dead found their rest. My mother went to the furthest wall and padded a hand around the piled stones there. I could see that they were not placed like the other blocks on the other walls.

The stones that made up this wall were smaller and more roughly hewn, not quite matching that of their brethren.

With one hand, my mother grabbed ahold of a single, small stone and tugged. In an instant, the wall of stones crumbled and exposed a long, dark tunnel beyond.

“Is this it?” I whispered to her.

She pressed her lips together, and the slightest tremble coursed through her. She was as scared as I was but didn’t want me to know it. She knew our survival and the survival of our country depended on her ability to remain strong even in perilous moments like this.

She nodded once. Behind us, we could hear the sounds of scuffling feet and malicious laughter, filled with the rancid odor of those who only wished harm to others.

My heart lurched in my chest, my knees quaking beneath me. I don’t think I ever felt as terrified as I was then. Where was my father? Why hadn’t he stopped them? If they made it past him, then….

But I wouldn’t let my mind venture there.

I forced myself to race through the tunnel after my mother, skirts flying and wind rushing past us.

“Shift!” my mother cried. “They’ll catch up with us otherwise!”

“But we haven’t anything to change into!” I objected, but I knew that was a silly excuse. I’d much rather be naked and alive than fully clothed and dead.

My mother shifted before me, flinging herself into the air and becoming the gray wolf she was. I shifted after her, grieving the loss of my new dress and frock, but enjoyed the feelings my wolf gave me. I transformed into my pure white wolf, like my father before me.

And so, we raced on into the darkness, relying purely on our senses as we went further into the tunnel. I could smell the fragrance of the forest ahead of us and knew we were coming closer, but the sound of our enemy was closer still.

We burst into the nighttime air, darkness closing around us, but enough light shined down from the full moon, giving us leave to charge ahead at full speed.

Even as my claws dug into the soft earth, mud, and grass flying behind me, I could hear wolves howling close at our heels. My mother surged forward in front of me, but I could see her energy waning. She was far from a young woman and hadn’t run like this since she was my age.

And as for myself, I was still unused to the new powers awakened within me, and my wolf was sluggish from lack of training.

Dread coursed through me. I couldn’t see how we would be able to get away. The enemy wolves were far too close and closing in on us with each passing second. I even thought I could feel their breath against my fur, hot and foul, like a dead thing come to life.

A ridge appeared ahead of us, and my mother was speeding up to make the leap, but then, a loud explosion lit the night, tearing through the air with a tremendous bang. The ground shook beneath us, and we were flung into the air.

My body hit the ground with a thud, and the air rushed from my lungs.

I heard my mother whimper next to me and craned my neck to look up. I could see her struggling to get up, her eyes cast at the castle. But even as I traced her gaze, I was shocked to find the castle gone, a blaze of fire having taken its place.

My mother was rooted in place, her eyes not leaving the empty place where her home once stood and where the life of her life likely went with it.

The enemy drew nearer, and though my heart exploded along with the castle and everything with it, I knew we had to keep going. I didn’t want to imagine what would happen to us if we didn’t get away.

‘MOTHER!’ I called to her through our mindlink. She said nothing, unmoving. Her jaw trembled, and her body shook. Tears formed in her eyes.

‘Turmand…’ she cried, her silent tears echoing in my mind.

Then realization hit me and while my inner voice screamed at me to run, my body was frozen in place. Panic began to flood me, thoughts whirling in my head. My father was dead. Well, and truly dead. I couldn’t go on. Not now. My father…

But then, I saw my mother circling in my vision.

‘Wake up, Constance! It is your duty as a future Luna and Queen to protect your people, and to remain strong for them. You must survive! We must escape now while we can! We are the last of our pack, and we may be the only hope of ever stopping the enemy that now descends upon us now! We must run! NOW!’

I began to nod, knowing she was right, but as I stepped toward her, her eyes went wide with shock. We both stood dazed for a moment, neither truly knowing what had happened, but then, when I glanced down, my heart nearly stopped.

A long and deadly arrow protruded from my mother’s chest, dark blood pooling at her feet.

‘Mother…’ I whispered, but it was too late.

She stumbled forward once, then twice, before hitting the ground, her eyes already glazed over with death.

She shifted then, her last act as a wolf, and became a human, naked to the light of the full moon and exposed to the world and its horrors, but caring no longer.

I didn’t know what to do. Both my parents were now dead, taken by an unseen foe beneath the night sky. I was alone in the world, a state I had never known before.

Suddenly, I was no longer the princess of a powerful pack, the daughter of the Alpha King and his Luna. But instead, I was an orphan lost in a world of fire and chaos.

Behind my mother’s already cold corpse stood a man I had never seen before. Written on his face was a wicked smile and eyes so cruel they would appear hot even in Hell, and they were as crimson as the blood that once coursed through my mother.

I knew this man even if I had never seen his face before. He was the King of the Southern Territories.

Next to him was another with a bow and arrow drawn directly at me.

He pulled on the string, energy welling within the cord as his arm drew back, preparing for the release that would end my life.

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