35. White Wolf
35
White Wolf
I felt the wall of magic before I saw it. All the hairs rose on my body.
Judging from the others’ reactions, they felt it too.
We turned a corner and came in sight of the hallway leading to the ballroom. Pale light crackled eerily at the end. Blood pounded in my veins as we bolted toward it
My stomach plummeted when I reached the barrier. The scene beyond was pure bedlam.
Werewolves and vampires fought each other viciously across the floor, their formal wear in tatters and their faces twisted with rage. Other supernatural creatures clashed between them, banshees lashing out at fae and pixies while dwarves and dragon newts went at each other with axes—which had materialized from somewhere unknown—and fireballs. The witches were hurling spells at anyone who got in their way and seemed oblivious to the friendly fire they were incurring.
I swallowed. It had already begun.
“What—what’s going on?!” Marcus said numbly.
“Camilla activated the curse,” I said grimly, scanning the ballroom.
“There!” Didi pointed.
Camilla stood on the dais previously occupied by the string quartet, the crystal skull glowing ominously in her hands. The witch in the red dress was beside her, along with more vampire mercenaries. Camilla laughed cruelly as she watched the supernatural elite of Amberford tear each other apart.
Dread knotted my shoulders when I caught a glimpse of Samuel and Gregory Tremaine lunging at each other’s throats in the melee.
“Snap out of it, dammit!” Samuel roared at Gregory.
I blinked. Samuel sounded like he was in control of his senses.
Gregory opened his mouth in a wide snarl, his eyes glassy and his claws ripping Samuel’s tuxedo to shreds. The Hawthorne alpha slammed his shoulder into the vampire’s chest and sent him crashing into a pillar.
Relief made me weak when my gaze found the rest of the Hawthornes and the Luptons. They were defending themselves against vampire mercenaries and other supernatural creatures while protecting a group next to the terrace doors, the elderly Council members and Priscilla among them.
Kent picked up a vampire and slammed him into the marble floor, his eyes watering from wolfsbane exposure. Caroline kneed a werewolf in the balls and sent a group of pixies slamming into the barrier. Hugh was punching fae and witches in the throat. Lauren and Beatrice had transformed and were snapping their jaws at the dragon newts trying to attack.
I was wondering why the curse had not affected their minds when I spotted Pearl. The cat stood close to Victoria, her eyes glowing with a mystical light that made my pulse quicken. I knew instinctively she was the reason why Samuel and the others had not fallen under the influence of the curse.
“How are they keeping this barrier up?” Didi asked tensely, bringing my focus back to our most immediate problem. She touched the wall gingerly and winced when static burned her fingers. “This thing contains an insane amount of magic!”
“Camilla’s using the ley lines under the mansion,” Marcus said in a hard voice. “Look at her feet.”
A strange light pulsed through the marble floor beneath the Council secretary. The witch in the red dress had jabbed a weird-looking object into the dais next to her.
“Dammit!” Didi cursed. “That’s an artifact. They must be using it to tap into the magic beneath this place!”
I fisted my hands. “We need to get in there.” An idea came to me then. One born of my wolf’s instincts. I looked at the knife in Didi’s hand. “Give me that.”
“What?” Didi’s eyes rounded. “But—it will burn you!”
“I don’t think it will.” At least, I hoped it didn’t.
Didi hesitated.
I met the witch’s eyes steadily. “Trust me.”
An anxious whine escaped Bo as Didi carefully handed me the weapon.
I steeled myself and took it. The knife felt cool in my hand.
I swallowed. It seemed my suspicions were correct.
I was immune to silver and wolfsbane.
I listened to my wolf, jammed the knife in the base of the magic barrier, and carved an opening in the wall.
The others gasped.
“How the hell did you do that?!” Didi mumbled.
“Silver. And probably because I’m a white wolf.” I eyed them hesitantly. “I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to resist the spell, but there’s a chance you’ll fall under it the minute you step inside that ballroom.”
“We’re coming with you,” Marcus said adamantly. He glanced at Priscilla. “I have to protect Mother.”
“What he said,” Didi muttered while Gavin nodded.
I looked at Bo.
“You’re not leaving me out here,” my dog said mutinously.
“Alright. Just don’t blame me if I end up knocking you guys out.”
I grabbed the edges of the opening and stretched it so we could pass through.
The witch on the dais startled when she felt the break in the barrier. She looked over, narrowed her eyes, and said something to Camilla.
Camilla’s gaze found mine.
I bared my teeth, pointed at her and me, and made a deliberate throat-slicing motion with my thumb.
“Remind me never to piss you off,” Didi muttered.
Camilla barked an order to the vampire mercenaries. Half the group jumped off the dais and headed toward us.
I cracked my knuckles. “Time to get this show started.”
The curse washed over me like a wave when I stepped inside the ballroom. Bar tickling my skin, it did nothing to me.
I checked the others carefully as they joined me. Everyone seemed surprisingly okay. I furrowed my brow.
Was it the effect of being close to a white wolf?
There was no more time to think as the first wave of vampire mercenaries reached us.
I grabbed one of the men by the throat, spun, and hurled him into a wall. “Bo, head over to Pearl and the others!”
Bo fidgeted before making his way across the room with a slight limp.
Didi and Gavin engaged the mercenaries alongside me. Marcus transformed into a black wolf and lunged at his attackers with an angry snarl.
Priscilla’s eyes widened across the way when she saw her son. “ Marcus! ”
Lauren’s wolf snapped her head around. Relief brightened her eyes at the sight of Marcus.
A fireball struck the ground next to Didi’s left foot before I could make sense of what I was seeing.
“Hey, watch it!” the witch snapped as she blasted a mercenary in the face with her magic.
“Sorry!” Gavin said while merrily setting fire to a vampire’s clothes.
I was beginning to suspect the reason his and Didi’s last surveillance job had gone wrong was because the dragon newt was actually a pyromaniac.
“Can you guys handle the rest of the mercs?” I asked them.
“Leave it to us.” Didi’s broomstick hummed eagerly as she used it to assault a vampire somewhere no vampire should ever get assaulted.
Marcus’s wolf whimpered and looked at me beseechingly.
I punched another vampire’s lights out and sighed. “Alright, you can come with me.”
We made our way across the ballroom, Marcus staying in his wolf form to help me keep the other supernatural creatures at bay. Despite baring their teeth at us and growling, no one tried to attack.
I was wondering why when it dawned on me then that the eerie sensation I’d experienced at the Den was back. I hesitated before focusing on the feeling and staring the creatures we passed in the eye. Their glazed looks faded. Some of the werewolves shook their heads and looked around, confused.
My mouth went dry. Was my presence acting like an antidote to the skull’s curse?!
We finally came in sight of Samuel. I scowled, dragged the dragon newt attacking him away by the tail, and sent him flying into a champagne tower.
“Hands off my alpha, you damn lizard!”
Samuel gaped before recovering his composure and engulfing me in a bear hug. He pulled back and scanned me worriedly, his touch making my wolf whine.
“Are you okay?!”
I nodded then noticed the faint burns on his hands and face. They were already healing. Still, the fact that he’d gotten hurt set my rage level to the max.
“Marcus, go protect your mother,” I ground out. “Samuel and I will finish off that shrew.”