“Hold her, Simon.” Malcolm ran toward the grappling pair and leveled his pistol at Gretta’s head. The werewolf, even locked in Simon’s clutch, swung her axe at the Scotsman, spoiling his aim. He got off one shot. The bullet glanced across her skull, creating a deep furrow of silver. Gretta screamed and flailed at him again with her weapon. Her momentum took one of Simon’s feet off the ground and she spun with a roar, lifting the magician into the air. With a massive flex of her shoulders, Gretta shrugged Simon off into the wall, where he crashed down to the floor
“Why doesn’t anyone listen to me?” Simon muttered dizzily as he struggled to his feet.
A howl sounded from across the chamber. Charlotte twisted in the final throes of an agonizing transformation. The young werewolf tossed her hairy head and growled.
Gretta looked surprised. “Charlotte. So here’s where you got to. We’ll talk about your punishment later, but help me kill these wretches.”
Charlotte growled and leapt on Gretta’s back, her jaws clamping on the giant’s corded neck. The young werewolf was dwarfed by Gretta, who towered nearly nine feet tall. With a furious snarl, Gretta reached around and grasped Charlotte by the scruff of the neck, pulling her off, fur and flesh tearing as she did. She shook the young werewolf angrily.
“What is wrong with you, Charlotte?”
The young werewolf’s claws found purchase and gouged deep grooves in Gretta’s forearms.
Gretta’s eyes narrowed as her lips curled upward into a fearsome snarl. “I should have killed you when you stood up in front of me in Samuel’s hovel.”
Gretta dredged a growl from deep inside her belly and it turned into a horrific howl of fury that shook the room. She raised Charlotte over her head with one arm and smashed her into the floor. The equipment around the chamber rattled. The massive werewolf raised a foot and brought it down onto Charlotte. There was an audible crunching sound and the girl gave a muffled scream. Gretta pressed her formidable weight down into Charlotte, grunting with the effort to drive the life from the traitor.
A hand grasped Gretta’s massive hairy arm and yanked her around. A furious Simon looked up at her. He smashed a fist into her snout. She staggered. He backhanded her and she lurched a few more steps away. Gretta wiped a hand across her dripping snout. She still clutched the axe in one hand, staring down at Simon with a strange mix of fury and unaccustomed confusion.
As he confronted the werewolf, Simon shouted to the others, his voice reverberating with authority and immense power. “When I say run, I don’t mean toward me. Now get out, the lot of you!”
He heard the sound of feet retreating. Pain from the last blows radiated up his blood-soaked arms, but the bubbling sensation of potent aether still fueled him. However, there was a dreadful numbness collecting in his extremities. He didn’t have much time left.
“If you’d care to surrender,” Simon gasped to Gretta, “I’d consider it.”
The werewolf snarled and threw her axe. It whistled past Simon’s ducking head and the blade cleaved deep into the stone floor behind him. He surged forward, smashing another stone fist into her face and knocking her around. Her claws dug into the brick wall to steady herself, but Simon wrapped his arms around her midsection and lifted her into the air. His knees bent but didn’t buckle. Gretta heaved about with enough sheer force that it should’ve shattered Simon’s bones, but he held her, grunting with tremendous effort each time she threw her shoulders or kicked out with her massive legs. It was like trying to cradle an enraged tiger while shuffling back slowly toward the rune he had drawn with his blood on the floor.
Gretta must have caught a glimpse of the faint glow of the rune behind her. She snarled viciously and threw herself with renewed vigor against his grip, clawing at Simon. Luckily, she could barely reach him, so she just clipped him with the tips of her sharp fingers. She roared and grasped his hands clasped across her stomach. She ripped at his flesh, trying to tear his hands away. Simon gritted his teeth, screaming through a clenched mouth, continuing to haul the thrashing beast closer to the circle, step by unsteady step.
They passed the axe embedded in the stone floor. The werewolf grabbed the long handle and Simon’s progress jerked to a stop. He felt the power of the rune circle wafting up just at his back, but Gretta was still outside it. She used the haft of the steady axe for leverage and his foot slipped as she tugged herself a few inches farther away. Simon braced himself, leaning back, crying out as muscles of stone strained to the edge of cracking. Still the great beast was immovable. His aether was fading and his strength along with it. If he released his hold now, he would be ripped to shreds.
Suddenly Kate appeared in the door and rushed in, her hair flying. Her hand drew back as she approached the struggling werewolf. Gretta continued to pull herself forward with the axe, paying no attention to Kate. The beast was bent forward at the waist, fighting against Simon, who was red-faced with strain. Kate popped the cork off a small vial and threw it in the werewolf’s face.