Matar stood another three feet taller, his muscles resembling small boulders. His tail whipped viciously, filleting half of Uri’s face while crushing Anara’s back into powder. Uri was a Grandmaster, Anara a pack Elder; Matar shouldn’t have crippled them with such ease.
Martin and Makawee fought two infected vampires. To my astonishment, Aric and Misha worked together to take down the third. Misha’s head snapped toward me. He must have caught my scent. His eyes widened when he saw my condition, but then he flashed me one of his wicked smiles. He nodded toward the vamp and grinned, pulling an arm while Aric clamped onto the other. No further explanation needed. I changed and sprinted toward them, slicing through the bloodluster’s neck with my fangs.
Aric leapt into the fray the moment the vamp fell limp. Misha forced his hand through the decapitated vamp’s chest and ripped out his heart. “I knew you would survive, kitten.”
That made one of us.
Bits of cinder block exploded like shrapnel as Matar embedded Uri and Anara into the retaining wall. His daggerlike claws pierced through Martin’s and Makawee’s larynxes, and out the base of their skulls. Aric’s chest rumbled in challenge, attacking his serpent tail and distracting Matar from completing his decapitation of the Elders.
I charged Matar, knowing they needed help. Misha sped close behind me. We hit him at once, me slamming him with the full impact of my body and Misha jumping on his shoulders, trying to sever his head. Matar didn’t budge, despite our powerful strikes. I attempted to shift him into the earth. It was like trying to force a brick through steel. He was too big and I remained too weak. So I clawed and bit through his thick hide, desperate to bring him down.
Revulsion swept through my body. Matar tasted evil. I ignored my instincts to stop biting him, thinking of Shayna and every bit of suffering this bastard had caused.
Matar flung the listless bodies of the Elders and turned his freed claws on us. One went into Misha’s chest and the other rammed into my left side. We let out unearthly roars of agony as he suspended us in the air. When his claws penetrated deeper, the torture became unbearable. I lost my focus and changed back. I thought I was going to die, only to have Matar howl in pain and drop us.
Aric held Matar’s severed tail between his deadly fangs. It jerked violently like a separate entity despite the necrosis setting in. Matar bellowed with fury and kicked Aric in the chest, breaking his ribs in a heart-clenching crunch and launching him into the prison’s outer wall. Aric yelped upon impact, then collapsed, unmoving.
I struggled to stand, barely able to move. Misha lunged to his feet and hurtled his body against Matar. To my horror Matar grabbed Misha’s arms and ripped them off his body. Misha dropped to the ground, bleeding and screaming.
Aric woke with a start and catapulted into Matar’s chest, knocking him over. His potent jaws crushed Matar’s sternum, breaking through the bone and opening the cavity. Aric was going to kill him. There was no doubt in my mind, until Matar nailed Aric across the muzzle, snapping it in half.
Matar stabbed his claws through Aric’s underbelly. Aric thrashed violently, trying to break Matar’s grip. Matar’s body jerked from Aric’s rough motions, and his hard breaths filled the night. He stumbled to a kneeling position, lifting Aric’s huge wolf form over his head.
A long silver spike jetted out from Matar’s knee. My eyes widened, knowing he meant it for Aric’s heart. Matar smiled at my terror. “Aric, be sure to tell Shayna that Celia says hello.”
I shifted underground faster than ever before, resurfacing in a high leap behind Matar. With all I had left, I punched through the back of his skull and grabbed his brain. Out it came, along with most of his spinal column.
My feet hit the ground in sync with Matar’s lifeless form. “Get up from that, asshole!”
The thunder stopped and the clouds dissipated, revealing a clear night sky full of shimmering stars. All was quiet except for the sound of labored breathing from those struggling to rise to their feet. I rushed to Aric, panting on the ground. He met my gaze and changed, holding me against him while the broken bones of his face realigned and healed.
Weres, vampires, and witches from the Alliance encircled us. So did the Elders, resuming their human forms. To my relief, Misha also rose to his feet. His arms remained scattered somewhere in the yard, but he had stopped bleeding, thanks in part to the charitable tongues of the Catholic schoolgirls.
Aric released me as Uri and Anara extracted their bloodied and battered figures from the wall and limped toward us. Uri smiled at me pleasantly, an impressive feat considering part of his face was still at large. “Well done, Celia,” he said, with a slight nod.