Chapter 21

Lola’s heart returned to a more peaceful rhythm. The watery, shaky sensation in her arms and legs disappeared. There were still two oni left but after watching Russel rip through a horde of ghouls and two other oni, she was feeling a lot more confident he would end things soon. It was only a matter of time before there was nothing left for him to attack but her. So, wisely, she decided it was a good time to actually do what he originally instructed her to do. Run. Or, more accurately, quietly hastened away without drawing attention to herself. If the oni caught on to the fact that she was around, they would certainly come after her. She was the obvious, weaker target especially considering what Russel had just done to their fallen comrades. Not only that but she knew once he was done with the oni, Russel would come after her as well.

She slowly and carefully began backtracking the way she came, making sure to place her feet in such a way that they made as little noise as possible when she stepped. As she did, she kept a watch on the remainder of the fight between werewolf and oni. It was a gruesome, morbidly enthralling affair. Watching Russel fight the oni was almost hypnotic in a way. Their movements were graceful but at the same time, devastating and frighteningly powerful. The oni moved with almost effortless speed, striking out with well-placed cuts and thrusts. Russel, on the other hand, was all brute force and animal savagery.

It was like some beautiful but extremely deadly dance.

Get moving, she told herself.

That was only marginally successful. She moved a little quicker but not by much.

Hurry. Once he’s done fighting the oni, he’ll come for you too. You know he will. You can feel it deep in your soul. Russel is in there but he’s not in control.

It was a sobering message and one that actually did seem to get through to her. She finally turned away from the fight and sped up her escape. She still heard the sounds of it behind her but mostly, these came from Russel. The oni were just too damn quiet. She couldn’t hear them at all. Their feet made no sounds as they walked or ran across the ground and their weapons didn’t so much as rattle. Even when their swords flashed through the air, the sound of its passage barely even registered no matter how close. Running away from the fight now, she had no idea if they were even using them at all.

Roars and howls filled the air. Crashing, thumping, and explosive sounds of impact echoed toward her. But, as she ran, they faded and grew less distinct. A spike of fear ran through her when she did because now, she was no longer sure of the outcome. What if they overpowered him? What if one got a lucky shot in and mortally wounded him? What if they cut his head off? What if…what if…what if.

The rapid amount of “what if” questions running through her mind threatened her sanity. They were so strong, she almost turned around and ran back to him several times.

Every time she did, she would see his face again, already starting to transform with a single word coming out from between a mouth full of fangs.

Run!

His eyes had shown nothing but a deep, twisted sense of terror.

She realized now his fear had nothing to do with fighting ghouls or oni. It came from knowing he was about to lose all sense of control. That he was letting the wolf take complete control. She knew doing that was the only way they were getting away from those monsters alive but the cost seemed too high now.

More of those cursed “what if” questions came raging through her mind again. Some of them were repeated concerns from earlier.

What if he can’t change back?

What if this was all he would be from now on?

What if he took her apart just as easily as he did the ghouls?

On and on they went. Irrationally, there was even a point where she started to feel guilty if he did catch up and actually kill her. It would absolutely destroy him to know he had killed her in his wolf form, if or when he reverted back to his human state.

She felt like a complete idiot for even thinking that but it was no less true, especially because she elected not to run and had stayed behind to make sure he wasn’t killed. There was no telling how much deadlier he would have gotten by letting the wolf take complete control, not without seeing it firsthand anyway. He had told her what would happen, of course, but there was a drastic difference between being told something and seeing that play out right in front of you. If she survived the night, she would at least come away with direct knowledge of the true, insane power of a werewolf. If that was how far they could go she wondered how the kingdom of Alcroft had managed to win against the three wolf kingdoms in the first place, during the Werewolf Wars decades ago.

It made her wonder what kind of hidden secrets the kingdom she called home not so long ago had. There was no way they would have come out of those wars without having some kind of powerful weapon. Right? It was the only thing that made sense.

Her mind was rambling now and she realized quickly it was an annoying coping mechanism she didn’t even realize she had until now.

She kept going across the moonlit landscape. Once she was far enough away, she decided it would be best to actually run in earnest. She wasn’t worried about getting too far away from Russel. He would be able to find her with no trouble once he was back to normal. Hopefully, anyway. But she did want to get far enough away to not draw attention to herself and now that she was, running definitely seemed like a better idea than just walking fast. Those sounds of fighting had disappeared but the worry over Russel had only increased. It was a weird correlation. The farther away she got, the more she feared he’d been killed.

To make sure she kept herself moving away from him, she told herself, over and over again, that he was okay. He was totally fine. He completely destroyed those first two oni. That meant the last two should be no trouble at all.

Right?

She forced herself to accept that and keep going despite wanting nothing more than to turn around. Then she heard something that quickly shoved that urge right out of her head. It was a long, ferocious, and terrifying howl.

And it was much closer to her than she thought possible.

Russel must have killed the last two oni much quicker than she thought he would. Either that or he was a lot faster in his current state than she gave him credit for. Whatever the case may be, she knew two things.

He was alive.

And he was definitely coming for her.

She couldn't even pretend otherwise because she could hear him stomping over the uneven terrain. Rocks, shrubs, and even some small trees, could be heard either being ripped out of the ground in his wake or sent careening down hills and over the terrain. At one point, she thought she heard a rock crash into a tree.

She felt him in the back of her mind as she ran too. The urge to look behind her was strong. It was potent. At one point, she found her head starting to turn to look behind her. All of her worries about him against the oni seemed even dumber now. Because she hadn’t been able to control that fear inside her, she was going to die now. She couldn't outrun him. Not even on her best day could she do that in his current form. She wasn’t even sure she could beat him in a race when he was human.

The sounds of him running were getting closer.

Her heart was pounding away inside her chest. Her body started shaking uncontrollably even as she ran. The world around her actually started to go dim. She was so scared, she thought she might even pass out.

All the while, Russel loomed closer and closer.