Dying To Dance: Chapter 32

Dying To Dance

Chapter 32:

**Slight bad language warning**

Another low growl sounded from within the mass of trees, and as they watched a pair of large, intelligent eyes protruded through the greenery. Alarmed, Luska took several hasty steps forward, standing in front of Alice, shielding her from the beast. How he loved standing tall, clutching a ready-loaded gun- he almost smirked in spite of the situation.
Then, without warning, the thing leapt from the mass of green, another snarl ripping from its mouth. Lillith gasped, taking a step backwards then stopping herself in an attempt at bravado. Luska cursed loudly, cocking his gun. Standing in front of them, teeth bared and slavering, was a wolf- a werewolf. With its shaggy russet fur and colossal size, twice as big as a regular animal, it was easily identified. And potentially dangerous.
It eyed the posse of trigger-ready people in front of it, and it didn't like what it saw. A loud rumble was forming in its chest, and as Luska turned thoughtlessly round to face the others, it lunged. Immediately picking up on their change of expression, Luska dodged to the side with a loud profanity, the creature's large body colliding with his gun, knocking it from his hand.
Alice gasped and instinctively pulled the trigger of her own gun, firing into the wolf's shoulder. The wolf let out an angered roar and immediately whirled around to face her, its jaws flared and dripping with thick saliva. The demoness instantly regretted her actions, mentally kicking herself for being so stupid. Of course, normal bullets wouldn't work. They needed silver. As the wolf bounded towards her, Frazer hastily flitted forwards and carried Alice to safety, leaving the infuriated and confused wolf left searching for its next challenger.
"Dammit, Luska, I think this is what he was hunting!" Frazer called over to the demon, who was on the opposite side of the wolf, along with Lillith and Kael. He placed Alice down and stood in front of her, glaring past the wolf at Kael and Luska, praying that they would keep Lillith safe as he did Alice.
"No shit!" Luska bellowed back. He growled, narrowing his eyes at the beast as its large head tilted and their eyes met. The wolf let out a howl of rage and the demon tensed, grabbing Lil's arm as he yanked her behind him- not to protect her, but because she was in his way.
The animal lurched forward, mouth open and baring all of its sharp yellow teeth, taking a snap at Luska. He dodged clumsily out of the way, landing with a grunt on the ground as the beast soared past him, barely missing. In the few seconds before it would recover and turn around for another go, the demon frantically scoured the terrain for his gun, praying that the hunter wasn't as daft as he looked and had stocked up well on silver bullets.
As the wolf skidded to a halt, Kael made sure Lillith and himself were safely out of harm's way and well out of the beast's view. Frazer gave a swift sigh of relief, which was instantly replaced with a sharp gasp as the wolf came charging towards him. Cursing, he swiftly and skilfully scaled a large tree, disappearing into its branches as the wolf collided with its trunk. The tree shook violently, almost ridding the vampire from his hiding. Now raging, the wolf gave a tremendous roar that made the whole forest tremble and began to claw madly at the bark. Frazer cursed heavily as he began to feel the tree start to lean backwards, its eerie creaking making his hair stand on end.
"Dammit, Luska!" he cried, grabbing a thick branch as he began to lose his balance. "Shoot this bastard!"
Luska sniggered at the frantic edge to the usually well-composed vampire's voice as he jumped upright. He glanced around, running a hand disconcertedly through his hair as he searched for the gun. He spotted something glinting several metres away, half-buried in the thick grass, and sprinted over to it, scooping up the firearm by its barrel.
He fumbled for a moment, attempting to line it up so as to shoot the wolf straight in the ribs.
"Just shoot!" Lillith yelled, eyes wide with terror for the vampire in the tree. Luska hastily pulled the trigger, realising too late he had moved the gun when Lil had shouted to him. The bullet whistled straight past the beast, skimming his ear, but it did the trick- it swivelled round and began to charge toward the demon instead. It grabbed the gun in its mouth, suddenly snarling in Luska's face, and pulled it out of his grasp with a jerk of the head, leaving him completely unarmed and vulnerable as the gun clattered to the ground out of reach...

Frazer rolled his eyes and leapt down from the tree with a swift, "For fuck's sake!"
He landed clumsily on the floor and hastily scrambled towards where the gun had landed. Just as he was about to reach out and grab it, a swift hand snatched it up.
Alice shot Frazer a mischievous smirk "He's mine!" she insisted with a cheeky wink.
The vampire nodded, flashing her a small smile. He knew Alice's aim was probably better than his anyway. The demoness smirked as she took aim, closing one eye for a better shot. She wanted this to end quickly, get it right first time.
"You're history!" she snarled, as she squeezed the trigger...
-Click-
Both the demoness and the vampire gaped in shock and despair. Alice tried again.
-Click-click-click-
She cursed and cracked the rifle open. It was empty.

Luska stood stock-still, gazing into the eyes of the savage wolf, hand clenching and unclenching as though longing to hold a gun. The clicking noise coming from the shotgun Alice was clutching was not a good sign. Luska chanced a peek past the beast, and noticed something else shining in the grass where the gun had lain a few moments ago.
"Somebody..." he started off, his voice an audible murmur. "Get those damn bullets!!" he bellowed, smacking the wolf around the face as he launched in the opposite direction, the animal in hot pursuit, snarls echoing around the meadow.
Lillith scanned around, eyes flickering from one patch of grass to the next until something silvery caught her eye. She darted forward, pushing past Kael, hand outstretched as she neared the shiny ammo... The angel let out a mingled gasp/scream as a hefty paw landed in front of her, on top of the bullets, and she found herself suddenly staring certain death in the face.

Frazer gasped, stopping dead in his tracks as his eyes locked onto the heart stopping sight before him: Lil cowering in the beast's shadow. He cursed violently, a trembling hand shooting through his hair as he desperately tried to think up a plan. Suddenly, all his prayers were answered as he saw Kael dive from out of the corner of his eye, lunging onto the wolf's back as if it were a wild horse. The wolf began to thrash vigorously, snarling angrily as it staggered backwards, off the bullets and away from Lil. The demon, mounted on its back, jeered in sheer amusement as he rode the writhing beast like a rodeo, his hand grasping a handful of its thick mane.
Alice stared on, mouth agape in a shocked silence as she watched the crazy scene in front of her. The boy was mad! Completely off his rocker!
With one almighty swing of its mane, the wolf managed to fling the demon off its coat like a ragdoll, though he managed to land quite skilfully on his feet after a swift backflip.
Luska, panting from the chase, hastily used Kael's unusual diversion to spring forward, scooping up the ammo with an arrogant, "Ye-ah!".
"Alice!" he called to the stunned demoness, lobbing the bullets toward her. But Lillith had bigger problems- the dazed, enraged wolf seemed to have signalled her out as the weakest, and was prowling hungrily toward her now. With a squeak and a helpless glance toward Frazer and Alice, she remained frozen on the spot, eyes wide. An ear-splitting noise pierced the air, and the beast turned with a growl to Luska, who had his fingers in his mouth, having just blown a loud wolf-whistle (how conveniently named) as he waggled his eyebrows.
"Shoot it!" he cried, as the animal began to charge back towards him.
Alice stylishly caught the bullets and quickly rammed them into the riffle, snapping it shut then taking aim. The wolf was mere metres away from Luska when she squeezed the trigger, sending the silver bullet hurtling towards the beast. It sank deep into the wolf's hind leg causing it to stumble, sending its huge bulky mass tumbling dangerously towards an unsuspecting Luska.
Lillith watched, aghast, as the bullet penetrated deep into the vicious beast and it began to sway, already dead. It was far too close to Luska, she realised- he'd be crushed. He'd already given up one body, now he was about to lose another... Unless he couldn't make it out in time. Then what? The beast was so heavy, he'd either be squashed or suffocated... The thought of any one of the people in the clearing dying was unbearable, and Lillith found she was already flitting forward as all this flashed through her mind.
Nothing slowed down, there was no dramatic cry or leap of faith; on the contrary, time seemed to speed up as Lil shoved the demon out of the way of the falling wolf, landing on the ground in his place as the mass of fur plummeted on top of her. Everything went dark- there was no light, no air, and she found she couldn't even scream.
Luska watched, distraught, as the beast sunk onto the angel, obscuring her completely. "Idiot!" he bellowed, scrabbling upright.
Alice gasped, her hands shooting to her face. The angel was completely out of sight. Just gone, buried under the mass of muscle and fur. Her concern then focused on the vampire beside her. You could almost hear his heart breaking as he stood, staring at the scene with the most forlorn expression on his face.
"Frazer..."she called softly, reaching out a comforting hand, but before it reached his shoulder, the vampire took off towards where the body lay.
Kael watched from a distance, his lips slightly parted and his eyes, wide in a mortified expression. For a moment, everything was silent.

OK, so it was more than just a slight bit of bad language. What you gonna do?