CHAPTER 19

It wasn’t fear of the ghouls or the oni that made Russel cry out to Lola to run. They were dangerous, sure. Especially the oni. They were a special breed of supernatural creature and because of who he was, he had gained safe passage across the border. The ghouls, in their foolishness to pursue him and Lola had brought the deadly killers right to them. But there was a reason why the oni were subservient to Russel’s clan. It all came down to oni simple fact. He was much stronger. His true strength and power, however, came at a price. It was something he had mentioned in passing before but had not gone into real detail on. To gain every ounce of his true potential, he had to let go of all of his humanity. All of the shackles that came with that part of his dual nature. To do so meant that nothing in his immediate vicinity would survive and that would include Lola. Even knowing she was near would cause fear to take root which could prevent him from unleashing the true power of the beast inside him and harm their chances of survival. Once she was out of the way, there was nothing stopping him anymore. He turned around, already in the middle of changing, and stood there as immovable and stubborn as a boulder. The fur sprouting out of his skin was spreading like a wave rippling across his flesh. His height shot up by at least three more feet, making him tower over both ghouls and oni. The amber light radiating out from his eyes grew several times brighter. The long, knife-like claws on every fingertip looked extremely deadly. Claws erupted on his paw-like feet as well. The strain of his rapid growth reduced his shirt and pants to tatters. As he stared at the creatures threatening him, he reached up and grabbed the remains of his shirt. Then he ripped it free and tossed it to the ground. Russel felt the wolf take control and let it. Lola ran but the sounds she heard drifting to her were almost more frightening than anything she could possibly witness. The snapping, wrenching, cracks of bones being broken only to regrow into something else. Something, judging by the guttural roars and howls, that was much more dangerous. Not only did she hear Russel’s shifting, but she heard the ghouls as well. Several were making sounds of what could only be classified as outright terror. She understood why he told her to run. Why he didn’t want her to see what he was about to become. The fear inside her was threatening to make her lose all control over her body and she hadn’t even actually seen him. All she could do was hear things. Very unpleasant things. Still, a part of her doubted. Did he really have the strength to take on that many foes? She knew he was a werewolf but just three of them had been enough to overpower him before. Now there were over a dozen and on top of that, the one he told her about. She wasn’t exactly familiar with that type of creature but they looked extremely skilled at murdering anyone they came in contact with. That doubt started to turn her fear for her own life to fear for Russel. Could she really live with herself if he was killed and she had just run away? Would she ever forgive herself if she let him die? The answer to both questions was an absolute no. Her hesitation gave way to a more certain course of action. She stopped running and turned around, determined to do something to help. Understanding dawned on her that there was a very real possibility she would be killed. If that did happen, she reasoned, then at least she would die knowing she tried to help someone she cared deeply for, maybe even loved. She hadn’t let herself think that far ahead. Didn’t let the feelings she harbored inside out into the light of day. She wasn’t even sure why. It felt like a weird form of self-preservation but against what, she had no idea. Russel had only shown her, over and over again since they met, how willing he was to protect her from any and all threats. And he had also shown her how much he liked her, over and over again. The night at Wrexon in the bath had just been the first instance. There had been many more as they traveled. She stopped suddenly, realizing her mind was twisting this way and that in an effort to stall her from going back. Getting hung up on her feelings for Russel in such a dire situation was definitely some kind of self-preservation. No more stalling, she said to herself and forcefully. She drew her blade out of its sheath and made her way back to where she left Russel behind. It took several long, anxiety-ridden minutes to do so. In her blind running, she hadn’t realized she made it so far away. Finally, she could hear the sounds of the fighting getting louder and she knew she was getting close now. The darkness of night made it hard to see things but as soon as she got within range, she saw the battle well enough. Enough to give her nightmares for the rest of her life. The ghouls and oni were terrifying things, that much was true, but they paled in comparison to the ten or eleven-foot monstrosity that was, she could only assume, Russel. He looked like a melding of man and wolf, but only from the demented imagination of a psychotic. His form was easily five times larger than it had been before. Even when he went wolf in the past to help her, it was nothing like what she was seeing. His true, bestial form was like the mutated body of some terrifying animal and man hybridization that went against every law of nature imaginable. His arms were longer than they had any right to be and she was sure he could take a head off the shoulders in one swipe. The barrel of his torso was so overwhelmingly full of muscle; she was awed by the simple fact that he could keep himself standing up. How something that must have weighed over four hundred pounds could keep itself upright was another mystery she couldn't get a handle on. Its head was huge, and a short, canine-like maw had extended six inches outward from his face. Gleaming fangs burst out from between its lips. And then there were his eyes. Both of them shone with amber light so bright, they actually lit up the entire area, making it easier to see everything going on. The ghouls and the oni seemed awed by what was in front of them. Both parties had stopped for the moment as Lola continued to watch. It was like seeing time freeze. For those long, awkward seconds, everything stilled. As soon as she came back and saw Russel’s true form, she knew she had made a mistake. That monster was not Russel. Deep down, she knew it was him, sure, but at that moment it also was not him. It was like her mind was trying to separate the one being into two separate entities. It felt like the only way she would be able to wrap her mind around what she had seen. That and she felt like separating them into two different beings felt easier on her mind. Less weighty. Thinking of the massive, wolf-like being as Russel quickly became problematic so in her haste to stay sane, that was how her mind chose to cope. As bad as it was for her to see Russel like that, what happened next was infinitely worse. She got an up close and personal view of that. As she watched, she knew those images would haunt her dreams for months, maybe even years, afterward. No amount of time or mental force would save her from that fate. Despite knowing that, she didn’t look away. She kept her eyes on the scene and watched as his true power ripped into the creatures surrounding him.